Her Lying Eyes
by M.Stark
Summary: Working for S.H.I.E.L.D, Morgan Stark thought she'd seen it all but then Loki appears through a portal to steal the Tesseract. With the whole of Earth in danger, she and her father must team up with the other Avengers to stop Loki and reclaim the Tesseract. Danger is around every corner and not everyone will make it through the battle alive. Fourth story in the Morgan Stark series.
1. Chapter 1

_It's finally here. I've been working on this story for so many years and I'm finally ready to upload it. Thank you for being so patient with me. I hope it was worth the wait._

 _The time between Iron Man 2 and Avengers and what happened to Morgan will be explained through flashbacks throughout the entire story_

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People were panicking. They scrambled around us, desperate to reach the cars and evacuate. S.H.I.E.L.D men, clad in full armour, directed the frightened researchers and developers around the base towards the evacuating vehicles. A few of them were trying to salvage any research they could, dragging containers full of papers behind them.

I sat and calmly watched the chaos unfolding around me.

I was at the Joint Dark Energy Mission Facility in the Mojave Desert; a secret S.H.I.E.L.D facility where both S.H.I.E.L.D and NASA scientists were studying the Tesseract. I was one of the S.H.I.E.L.D scientists who had been conducting research into the Tesseract and its energy potential.

9 months ago when Nick Fury had approached me in the hospital and offered me a job at S.H.I.E.L.D, I thought he was crazy. I was a 17-year-old, recently paralysed girl. What on earth would S.H.I.E.L.D want with me?

It had taken some time and convincing before I realised I could be a real asset to S.H.I.E.L.D. I had been working for them for 6 months now and part of my role was to study and research the Tesseract alongside Dr. Selvig. I hadn't been at the facility for two weeks now, as I had been away doing other work for S.H.I.E.L.D, but as soon as Selvig had called to tell me what was happening, I flew in immediately.

I was itching to go back down into the research bunker where the Tesseract was being held and find out what was going on, but I had a briefing to do.

The wind whipped my hair around my face as I watched the helicopter slowly descend. The evacuation orders blaring over the speakers could barely be heard over the noise of the helicopter as it carefully landed.

I stood up and walked over to stand beside Agent Coulson.

Agent Hill stepped out of the helicopter first, followed by Director Nick Fury. He was dressed in his usual black leather outfit, which helped to enhance the deadly aura that surrounded him. Despite the fact that he looked incredibly scary and most people in S.H.I.E.L.D feared him, I didn't have that problem. At first I'd been incredibly intimidated by him but that had disappeared very quickly. I respected his authority but I'd never had any qualms about enquiring into his decisions and why he made them. In fact I think he respected people who challenged him and weren't just mindless 'yes' men.

"How bad is it?" he asked as he and Hill stopped before us.

"That's the thing sir, we don't know," Coulson answered.

"Take us down."

As we walked into the building situated above the research facility, I felt Fury's gaze land on me.

"I'm surprised to see you here Stark," he commented as we stepped inside the elevator.

"Dr Selvig called me when the Tesseract started acting up a few hours ago." I looked up at him to see an eyebrow raised. While I was grateful to have a job at S.H.I.E.L.D, I hadn't been quiet when it came to wondering just what S.H.I.E.L.D was going to do with the information we discover about the Tesseract. I regularly asked Fury just what his plans were ad his answer was always the same; its above my clearance level. "One of the many reasons you hired me was so I could help with research into the Tesseract. Dr. Selvig has been sending me all of his research when I've been away. Until a few hours ago we'd never seen a spike in the energy levels. I came here to find out what the hell is going on."

"There was a spike in energy from the Tesseract?" Fury asked. "NASA didn't authorize Selvig to go to test phase."

The elevator doors slid open and the four of us exited. "He wasn't testing it. He wasn't even in the room," Coulson said. "Spontaneous event."

We swiftly walked through the maze beneath the building that led to the research facility. There were still people down here packing up as much research equipment as they could. No one knew exactly what would happen if the Tesseract's energy levels continued to climb or what would happen if they reached a certain level. But based on our research, it wouldn't be pretty.

"How are the energy levels now?"

"Climbing," I said. "When we couldn't shut it down we ordered an evac." As I walked beside Agent Hill, I resisted the urge to rearrange my catsuit. I still wasn't completely comfortable in the skin-tight suit, which resembled Agent Hill's and Natasha's. While I still didn't like that it showed every lump and bump, I loved the feeling I got when I put it on. For some reason I instantly felt stronger and more powerful, like I could take on anyone. The combat boots I wore and gun strapped to my thigh definitely helped too.

"How long to get everyone out?"

"The campus should be clear in the next half-hour," Coulson replied.

"Do better," Fury ordered.

Coulson nodded and spun around to go back upstairs.

I watched him retreat before following Hill and Fury down a spiralling staircase, going deeper underground.

"Sir, evacuation may be futile," Hill said. "If we can't control the Tesseract's energy, there may not be a minimum safe distance."

"She's right sir," I added. "Our research shows no indications as to the consequences that could occur if the power exceeds its current levels."

Fury showed no indications he'd heard either of us. "Hill, I need you to make sure the Phase 2 phototypes are shipped out."

Hill stopped in her tracks as she looked at him incredulously. "Sir, is that really a priority right now?"

Fury turned around to stare down at Hill. "Until such time as the world ends, we will act as though it intends to spin on," he said, his tone more sharp and commanding. "Clear out the tech below. Every piece of Phase 2 on a truck and gone."

I saw Hill clench her jaw out of the corner of my eye. I wanted to ask Fury what Phase 2 was but I knew I would just be told it's above my clearance level. It has to involve the Tesseract in some way. That's why I had such mixed feelings about working for S.H.I.E.L.D on the Tesseract. I'd been told the research being done on it was purely for knowledge sake, but I wasn't naïve enough to believe that was it. I had a feeling Fury had other plans for the Tesseract, I just didn't know what they were. Yet.

"Yes, sir." Agent Hill all but stalked off.

"Stark," Fury said, drawing my attention back to him.

"Yes sir?"

"Follow me."

I nodded and followed him into the research facility. It was a vast room with an enormous dome shaped ceiling. The back of the room was taken up with rows of equipment and monitors while in the centre of the room was the Tesseract. It was being held in a container I designed to measure its energy and, hopefully, contain it if needed.

"You two," Fury said as we entered the room. He motioned to myself and Dr Selvig. "Talk to me."

"Director." Selvig nervously made his way over to us. He wasn't usually anxious around Fury, surprisingly, so the fact that he was now told me that things were going downhill fast.

Over the past few months I had been enjoying working with Selvig. Our communication had been mostly over emails and phone calls but I always loved the chances I got to work with him on the campus. He is a brilliant astrophysicist and I had learnt so much from him in just a few short months. In between our experiments I'd told him all about Iron Man and he'd described his encounter with Thor in New Mexico. I'd seen all the coverage on the news when it had happened, and even heard some stories from other S.H.I.E.L.D agents, but hearing the whole story from someone who had been there and been a part of it was amazing.

"Is there anything we know for certain?" Fury asked.

"The Tesseract is misbehaving," Selvig stated.

"Is that suppose to be funny?"

"No, it's not funny at all."

"Sir, the Tesseract is not only active, she's behaving," I said. We walked over to the Tesseract, encased in its container. The cube, with its swirling blue glow, was almost mesmerizing.

"I'm assuming you've pulled the plug?" Fury asked.

"She's an energy source," Selvig explained. "We turn off the power, she turns it back on. If she reaches peak level…"

"We prepared for this Doctor. Harnessing energy from space."

"But we don't have the harness." Selvig moved to stand in front of his computer, bringing up the most recent set of results.

"Stark, you said the container you built could contain the energy if it peaks?"

"I said it _might_ contain the energy if it peaks," I said, placing heavy emphasis on the word might. I did not want Fury thinking I had guaranteed him anything. "We are literally dealing with an alien object. I can't give you guarantees about anything to do with the Tesseract. It might contain the energy, it might slow down the energy peaks, it might do nothing at all."

"Fantastic," Fury mumbled. I resisted the urge to roll my eyes.

"Our calculations are far from complete," Selvig said. "And now she's throwing of interference, radiation. Nothing harmful, low levels of gamma radiation."

Fury raised his eyebrows as he stared at Selvig. "That can be harmful." I think everyone in the room knew exactly how harmful gamma radiation could be. "Where's Agent Barton?"

"The Hawk? Up in his nest as usual." Selvig pointed up to the small platform situated above the room where Barton was perched.

"Agent Barton, report." Within a minute Barton had slid down from the platform and was standing before us. "I gave you this detail so you could keep a close eye on things."

"Well I see better from a distance," Barton replied.

One of the researchers motioned for Selvig urgently and he immediately rushed over. I was about to following him, concerned about what might be happening, when Fury spoke again.

"Stark, have you seen anything that might set this thing off?" He moved to stand directly in front of the Tesseract.

I shook my head. "Nothing."

"No one's come or gone. And Selvig's clean. No contacts, no IMs," Barton said.

As I stared down at the swirling blue object, a horrible and concerning thought that had been brewing at the back of my mind suddenly came to the forefront. "If _something_ is causing these energy surges, it's not coming from this end," I said.

"This end?" Fury inquired.

"It's been hypothesized that the Tesseract's energy could be manipulated to form a portal through space, like a door. Doors open from both sides. If we're not the ones causing the power surges, then someone on the _other_ side is." I watched both of their facial expressions change as that thought sunk in. The idea that someone, or something for that matter, could be controlling the Tesseract's energy from anywhere in the entire universe was truly frightening. The more frightening thought was what would happen if this person or thing was hostile. If they knew how to correctly wield the energy from the Tesseract, the power they would have would be immense.

As we all looked down at the Tesseract and tried to comprehend the horrors that could unfold, the swirling inside the object suddenly intensified. The glow grew brighter and brighter until the whole room was bathed in blue.

"What's going on?" Fury yelled over the humming noises being emitted from the Tesseract.

"The energy is surging again!" I yelled back. "But we haven't seen it like this before!"

We all took 5 steps back. As the energy coming from the Tesseract kept on climbing the ground and roof began to shake. Suddenly a surge of energy shot out from the Tesseract. A huge circular wall of blue energy formed at the end of the room. As the circle enlarged, its centre cleared up, and just for just a moment thousands of stars could be seen through the circle.

"Holy shit," I whispered to myself. This was it. Whoever was using the energy had just created a portal. The galaxy of stars were at their end, and they were about to come through to our end. "Guns at the ready!" I shouted. It was too risky to assume whoever was about to come through would be friendly.

Fury looked momentarily shocked at me shouting an order at him, but thankfully he nodded in agreement. All the agents in the room unholstered their weapons and had them trained on the energy in seconds. I pulled out my own gun, a Glock 19, and held it up with a steady hand. My heart was pumping wildly as I waited to see just what the hell we were about to see come through the portal.

The wall of energy stopped expanding. Seconds passed when suddenly the energy shrunk into a ball before shooting out across the room and evaporating. The bright blue light temporarily blinded everyone in the room. When the light faded, we all instantly realised there was someone new in the room.

Crouched at the end of the catwalk where the ball of energy had been focused was a man. As he slowly stood, a team of security guards surged forward with their guns aimed at him. He was dressed in odd green robes and had stringy black hair that fell to his shoulders. He slowly looked up to survey the room and the smile that was on his face could only be described as deranged. The most concerning thing about his sudden appearance was the large sceptre in his hand. At the top of the sceptre was a blade. Encased near the blade was a small circular object that glowed brightly. I had no doubt that the energy signature coming from the object would be similar, if not the same, as the energy from the Tesseract.

"Sir, please put down the spear," Fury shouted to the man.

The man looked down at the sceptre in his grasp. When he looked back up there was a deadly grin on his face. He pulled back the sceptre and shot a ball of blue energy towards where Fury and I were standing. Without thinking I leapt towards Fury and tackled him to the ground. I could feel the heat on my back as the ball of energy just missed us.

We landed hard on the ground. Despite the fact that I had just saved his life, it was still extremely awkward to be on top of your boss. I rolled off instantly and crouched down behind the small computer station positioned in front of the Tesseract. I peered around the station to see that the man had already attacked and killed 2 of the security guards. The remaining 2 guards were firing madly at him but the bullets seem to just deflect off his chest. The man pulled out 2 small blades and sent them flying into the guards necks.

Barton, who had crouched behind a nearby desk, began shooting at him. He responded by firing another ball of energy. Barton managed to roll out of the path of the shot but as he stumbled to his feet, the man was already there.

I raised my gun, knowing my bullets wouldn't make a difference but I hoped they'd at least distract him. Before I could fire, Fury had placed his hand on the barrel and pushed it down. He shook his head. I wanted to question just what the hell he was thinking but as I looked up, I saw it was too late as the man touched the tip of the sceptre to Barton's chest. Even from this distance I could see a swirl of blue energy travel from the sceptre into his chest. A second later his eyes darkened before glowing a brilliant blue. As I wondered what the hell had just happened and why the man hadn't shoved the blade into Barton's chest, I got my answer as Barton holstered his weapon and stood to attention in front of the man.

"What the hell?" I said quietly.

The idea of mind control sounded ridiculous but that was no doubt what was happening here. Somehow this man was able to manipulate Barton using just the energy from the object in his sceptre.

"Stark," Fury hissed. He was crouching down beside me and thankfully we were still partially hidden from view by the computer station. "We need to get the Tesseract out of here."

I hated the idea of just grabbing the Tesseract and running but I knew it was necessary. This man was obviously here for the Tesseract and if he got his hands on it the consequences would be deadly. While the man was distracted and putting more people under his control, I quickly crawled the short distance to the Tesseract. I pulled out the briefcase I had designed to contain it and slipped on the gloves to handle it. Delicately and trying not to draw attention to myself, I pulled out the Tesseract and slipped it into the case. I was pulling of the gloves when something caught my eye.

Up in the domed portion of the ceiling was a swirling blue mass of energy liberated from the Tesseract. It was growing by the second and already destroying parts of the roof. We had to get out of there. This energy would be able to destroy the whole campus within minutes.

I shut the briefcase and slowly rose to my feet. I'd barely taken 2 steps when the man spoke.

"Please don't." I turned around to see him staring straight at me. His gaze sent shivers down my spine. Up close I could see how haggard he looked. He was extremely pale and there were dark bags under his eyes. I wondered what he had gone through before he'd arrived through the portal. "I still need that."

"This doesn't have to get any messier," Fury said as he moved to stand beside me.

"Of course it does. I've come too far for anything else. I am Loki, of Asgard. And I am burdened with glorious purpose."

The name instantly registered in my mind. After Thor and the events in New Mexico, I'd done some reading into Norse mythology. While there are many legends and different tellings of the stories, in most of them Loki had been a merciless and cruel God. We were in serious trouble if he is anything like the stories portrayed him to be.

"Loki? Brother of Thor?" Selvig, who had been tending to a colleague knocked down by a blast, gazed up at him in wonder.

The man, Loki, did not look happy to be reminded of his brother.

"We have no quarrel with your people," Fury said.

"An ant has no quarrel with a boot."

"Are you planning on stepping on us?"

With every passing second, the blue glow filling the room was increasing. The minutes were ticking down and we needed to get the hell out of there. My hand was still gripping the briefcase tightly. My other hand was resting lightly on my gun in its holster. Despite the fact that the people under Loki's control were my colleagues and friends, I knew if it came down to it I would have to shoot them to protect the Tesseract.  
That was one of the first lessons they taught you at S.H.I.E.L.D. If the lives of many were at risk, you better be prepared to sacrifice yourself. It was something I had accepted, and I would gladly give up my life if it meant saving others. But I had never considered the idea that I would have to hurt other S.H.I.E.L.D agents to protect the world.

"I come with glad tidings. Of a world made free."

"Free from what?" I questioned.

"Freedom," he answered. There was a murderous glint in his eyes as he stalked towards Selvig. "Freedom is life's great lie. Once you accept that, in your heart, you will know peace."

As he turned around to place to sceptre on Selvig's chest and put him under his control, I spun around and ran for the closest exit. We were running out of time.

The sound of shots being fired filled the room. I couldn't risk turning around to see if Fury or Barton were the one's firing. My heart was pumping madly as I ran, half expecting a bullet to hit me at any second. I made it out the door and into the concrete maze that eventually led up to the surface. The briefcase handle was cutting into my palm as I clutched it tightly. I could hear heavy footsteps trailing behind me. I pushed myself harder, determined not to let the Tesseract fall into Loki's hands.

I wondered where Fury was. Had Loki killed him, or placed him under his control? Should I have tried to warn him about my plan? I didn't think I could risk trying to signal to him what I was going to do. I knew Fury could handle himself but I still worried about leaving him in a room full of people under someone's control.

I rounded a corner and saw the elevator on the other side of the room. My joy at the thought that I was so close to reaching the surface and escaping was short lived. A shot echoed through the room and a second later I felt a piercing, sharp pain hit my upper right shoulder. The force of the impact sent me spiralling forward. The briefcase fell from my grasp as I instinctively held out my hands to break my fall. My wrists stung from the impact and my forehead smashed against the ground, causing my vision to instantly blur.

My first thought was 'thank God for kevlar'. While the shot still hurt like a bitch and would definitely leave a bruise, it would have been a lot worse if I wasn't wearing kevlar. My second thought was that even though I couldn't see straight, I needed to arm myself. I was too dizzy to even try and stand so while I was still lying on my stomach, I reached down to grab my gun from the holster on my thigh. A foot was suddenly on my hand, preventing me from reaching my gun.

I raised my head and, through the fog still clouding my vision, looked up to see Agent Barton pointing his gun at my head. His face was completely blank, showing no emotion whatsoever. I waited for him to pull the trigger and sent the bullet that would end my life straight into my head.

A shot was fired, but it wasn't the one I was expecting. Barton fell to the ground as a bullet hit his chest. Like myself, he was wearing Kevlar so the bullet hadn't killed him. He scrambled to his feet and I attempted to do the same. A wave of dizziness hit me but I steadied myself and pulled out my gun.

When I looked up I saw it was almost too late. Loki and all the men under his control were already in the elevator. Barton, who had snatched up the briefcase, was running to join them. I raised my gun and took aim but my finger hovered over the trigger. A second passed and it was too late. The elevator doors slid shut and Loki's grinning face disappeared.

"What was that?"

I spun around, regretting the movement instantly as my head spun too. Fury was stalking towards me, gun in hand. I guess I had him to thank for shooting Barton and saving my life.

I knew he was referencing my hesitation in shooting Barton. I was saved from answering when the ground beneath us shook violently.

"We gotta go," I said. Keeping a tight grip on my gun, I ran for the stairs with Fury closely following. I was forced to grip the handrail numerous times as the ground continued to shake. I heard Fury warning Hill over the radio that Barton was compromised.

We emerged in the lobby of a deserted building. I breathed out a sigh of relief when I saw that the helicopter was still there. We only had seconds left though. The ground was shaking so violently that cracks were beginning to form.

As I ran outside I couldn't see anyone so I hoped that everyone had successfully made it off the campus. I dived into the helicopter, quickly followed by Fury. We lifted off from the ground not a moment too soon. I watched as the cracks in the ground continued to expand.

There was a loud blast and suddenly the ground began to sink. The buildings crumbled and the sink hole grew. Within a matter of seconds there was nothing left of the campus. My heart was pumping insanely. Where was Coulson and Hill? And more importantly, where was Barton and the Tesseract?

Fury's radio crackled to life and Hill informed him that Barton and Loki had escaped using one of S.H.I.E.L.D's vehicles.

"Patrol the perimeter," Fury ordered the pilot.

We flew around the edges of the destroyed campus, monitoring all of the roads in and out.

"There!" I shouted as I spotted one of S.H.I.E.L.D's vehicles speeding down the road. Perched in the back of the car, still with the sceptre in his hand, was Loki. When they realised that they'd been spotted, they veered off the road.

Fury slid the door to the helicopter open and drew his gun. I followed his lead and we opened fired on Loki, who responded by using his sceptre to shoot at the helicopter. The shot hit the tail of the helicopter and it immediately began to spin out of control.

"Jump!" Fury yelled.

We were only 20 feet above the ground so luckily the fall didn't do anything but cause shooting pains in my ankles. The helicopter crashed into the field behind us a moment later. Fury immediately got to his feet and fired on the truck but it had already disappeared into the night. I ran over to help the helicopter pilot escape from the burning wreckage.

"What the hell was that back there?" Fury shouted.

"I hesitated, okay? I'm sorry that I thought twice about shooting my colleague and friend!"

"And now he's gotten away with the Tesseract. If you're going to work for S.H.I.E.L.D I need to know that I can trust your judgement."

"And I need to know that I can trust yours!" I retaliated. I'm sure standing in a dark field with a burning helicopter was not the right place to have this conversation but we were going to have it. "Why did you stop me back in the facility? I had a shot and you stopped me from taking it."

"Bullets were not going to stop Loki."

"But that didn't stop you from trying just then. I could have distracted him back there. For all we knew, he was going to kill Barton, not put him under his control."

"Director Fury, do you copy?" The sound of Agent Coulson's voice echoed through the empty field, coming from the radio in Fury's hand.

Fury looked pleased that our conversation had been interrupted. But I wasn't about to let this go. We would be talking about this again later. "The Tesseract is with a hostile force. I have men down. Hill?"

"A lot of men are still under," Hill said over her radio. "I don't know how many survivors."

"Sound a general call. I want every living soul not working rescue looking for that briefcase. Coulson, get back to base. This is a level Seven. As of right now, we are at war."

A level seven. That was serious. And it could only mean one thing. "It's time?" I asked.

Fury looked me in the eye and nodded. "Are you ready?"

"Yes," I said firmly. I had been preparing for this, and I was ready. "I'll let him know."

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 _Please leave a review below, whether it be good or bad. I love hearing your feedback and what I can work on improving._  
 _ **Please review below.**_


	2. Chapter 2

I will try to make **Sundays** (Australian time) my regular upload day

I want to give a **HUGE thankyou** to everyone who has read/reviewed/followed this story. It may not seem like much to you but it makes an enormous difference to me and keeps me writing when I'm stuck.

 **Thank you** to ZabuzasGirl, NicoleR85 and ArtemisLuna85 for leaving a very much appreciated **review**.

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* * *

It was well past 3 in the morning before I walked through the door and arrived home. I was so glad to be back in familiar surroundings but it wouldn't last long, as tomorrow (more like today) I was heading to New York. I tried not to think about that, and the conversation I would need to have with dad.

"Hey baby."

My face broke out into an involuntary grin as I saw Daniel walking down the hallway.

"What are you doing up?" I asked.

"Waiting for you." He pulled me into a hug and I melted into his chest. I never got sick of feeling his arms wrapped around me. I stood up on my toes and planted a kiss on him.

He eyed me up and down as he stepped back. "Have I told you how hot you look in that catsuit?"

"Yes you have, you big perve."

He grinned. "Go change. I've got some pizza heating up."

"God I love you." I picked up my bag and made my way to the bedroom.

"Are you talking about me or the pizza?"

"Both!" I yelled down the hall.

As I practically peeled the catsuit off my skin, I couldn't control the smile on my face. I couldn't believe how much my life had changed in just 9 months. I had to pinch myself sometimes to prove that I wasn't dreaming.

Daniel and I had been together ever since we had met again at the expo. It was hard to believe the cute doctor who had taken care of me after Obadiah's attack was now the love of my life. We'd been too nervous to ask each other out all of those years ago but when we met again at the expo, we knew it was fate and didn't let each other slip away again.

We had been through so much together in just a few months but we'd always been there for each other. He'd supported me and never gave up after everything that occurred after the expo. Even when I had given up on myself, he never did. He was there after the surgery, attended every rehab session with me and put up with all my swearing and moaning.

Since the start he'd been supportive of me joining S.H.I.E.L.D. Of course he was concerned for me but he knew how much it meant to me to be doing something positive and making a difference. Unfortunately working for S.H.I.E.L.D meant I was away a lot but we made it work.

"How long have we been living together?" I shouted to the kitchen.

"4 months," he yelled back.

I pulled on my favourite pair of pink pyjamas and walked to the kitchen. "4 months later and you still can't remember to not leave your wet towel on the bed."

"Whoops." He slyly grinned at me. "Please forgive me," he said as he presented a plate of pizza.

"You know I can't be angry when there's pizza in the room." I gratefully accepted the plate and we moved into the living room to relax on the couch. While the last house I had lived in had been a hillside mansion, both Daniel and I had agreed that we wanted something more low-key. Together we'd purchased a modest 3 bedroom house in Santa Monica. Some might say we were moving too fast, having been together for less than a year, but we didn't want to waste any of our time together. We both knew we had found the one, so why waste time?

Dad hadn't been thrilled when I had announced that I was going to live with him. It had taken him a few months to just warm up to the idea of Daniel being my boyfriend, then he had to quickly get use to the idea of Daniel being my boyfriend who I lived with. Dad didn't have anything against Daniel, he was just being protective of his only child. Plus, with everything that had happened over the past 2 years I think he was worried that he wouldn't be able to protect me or that he was 'losing me'.

In order to ease his worries I'd promised that I'd visit him at home all the time. I'd also told him he could pop in and visit us anytime, which he'd obviously taken seriously as he came over for dinner at least 3 times a week whenever he wasn't in New York. And whenever he was here he'd always drop "little" hints about how empty the house was without me there. I think he was trying to make me feel guilty but I'd stopped feeling that a long time ago. Besides, he wasn't all alone in that big house anymore since he and Pepper has started dating. I love that they'd finally confessed what I'd known for a very long time. They were perfect for each other, although sometimes I had no idea how Pepper could put up with him.

"So what had you rushing out of here this afternoon?" Daniel asked in between mouthfuls of pizza.

"You know that object I told you about?"

"You mean kind of told me about," he corrected.

I pouted at him. "I told you all I could. I probably told you too much. If S.H.I.E.L.D found out I'd even mentioned it to you they'd probably send another agent to kill me. _Literally_ ," I mumbled the last part under my breath. "I went to do some more research on this object. Things went haywire and it was stolen. We have to get it back or there will be serious consequences. I can't even begin to describe the terrifying things that will happen if we don't get it back."

"Who stole it?"

"That's classified."

"You said things went haywire when this person stole this object. What happened? Are you okay?"

"Okay, don't freak out but I got shot in the back. I'm okay!" I quickly added when I saw the look on his face. "My vest caught it."

"Christ, that's still got to hurt. Show me." I lifted up the back of my shirt to show him the bruise already blossoming on my shoulder. His fingers lightly skimmed over my skin as he inspected it.

"See? I'm fine," I said, pulling my shirt back down.

"How did this happen?"

"It's-"

"Classified?" he said.

"I was going to say it's a long story, but yeah, that too." I could see a look in his eyes, one I'd caught before. "Look, you know I hate that I can't talk to you about my day like any other person. I wish I could tell you more, I do. But I'm not just keeping these things secret to protect S.H.I.E.L.D, I'm doing it to protect you. I know it's a cliché, but the less you know, the better. I don't want someone hurting you because you know something you shouldn't."

His expression softened. "I know you're protecting me. I get it, but who's protecting you?"

"I can take care of myself. You've seen me in action." I grinned as I winked at him.

He laughed. "Yes I have. So how do you plan on getting this thing back?"

"Because it's so valuable we need to put everything we have into getting it back. I'm going to New York tomorrow to talk to dad about getting his help."

"Are you guys putting the team together?"

I put my head in my hands. "Oh God, I've told you way too much." I sighed before nodding. "Yes, Fury wants to put the team together. God knows if this is even going to work out. My dad doesn't exactly play well in a team and I've never met most of the others." I put my empty plate on the coffee table and cuddled up to Daniel, resting my head on his chest.

"Are you going to tell your dad your real role in S.H.I.E.L.D when you see him?" he asked.

I let out a huff of laughter. "No. He'll kill me if he knew."

"He's going to find out eventually."

"I know." I sighed and sat up to stare at him. "You've seen how protective my dad is. If he knew what I was really doing, he'd be furious. Even after the Expo he still thinks he can protect me. I want him to believe that I'm just working behind a desk at S.H.I.E.L.D for a little longer."

"The longer you leave it, the worse it gets."

I rolled my eyes at him. "Shut up and kiss me."

* * *

So this chapter is quite short compared to the first one. I am very torn about whether to upload longer chapters or keep them shorter.  
 **Please** let me know below what you guys prefer to read: **longer** or **short** chapters.

As always, **reviews** are **accepted** and **appreciated**!

How **Morgan** is **walking** will be explained in a **flashback** in the next chapter so keep your eyes peeled for that.

I've also recently created a **Wattpad** account for these stories, so if you prefer that to this website, head over to my account, **user/MorganStark1**


	3. Chapter 3

**_Flashbacks are in italics_**

* * *

"The Avengers. Seriously, who came up with this name?" I asked myself.

I looked down at the tablet in my hand, reviewing the files. I wondered if Coulson came up with the name. He'd been very enthusiastic about everything to do with getting the team together, probably because he was fascinated by a certain star spangled member. You could practically see the man's eyes light up whenever the captain was mentioned.

"Good evening Miss Stark."

I looked up to the security camera in the corner of the elevator as I entered. "Evening Jarvis. Take me straight up please." I loved the fact that dad had installed Jarvis everywhere, even in the Stark tower elevator.

I was extremely proud of dad, and Pepper, for creating this tower, especially in such a short space of time. The ability to power this tower, and everything in it, using an arc reactor is a huge step forward in the world's search for alternative energy sources. And this tower was just the first of many.

Pepper and dad first came up with the idea of the tower when I was in hospital. They had been waiting around so much for tests and results and all they could do is talk.

I tried not to think too much about that time in my life. It was hard to relieve memories that made me feel powerless, like I'd felt in that bed. But one of the worst times of my life was also one of the best. It was sitting helpless in that bed that I'd been offered a job at S.H.I.E.L.D and started my relationship with Daniel. The best things in my life had come into my life at the worst time and I could remember every second of it.

* * *

 _It was nearing midnight and my eyes were slowly starting to become harder to keep open. I'd finally convinced dad to return to his hotel room for the night, but not before he promised to be back here first thing in the morning. I appreciated him wanting to be here for me, but honestly it just feels like he's watching my legs, waiting for them to move again. Time was slowly but surely ticking away. Time for him to face reality._

 _I'd gotten dad to lift the blinds on the window before he left. I love looking out on the enormous sky scrapers and letting the neon lights and traffic sounds fill the room. It reminds me that I'm not alone. That there are a million other people out there, each facing their own challenges, but still getting up each day to face the world. If they all could, than so could I._

 _My eyes had just fluttered close when there was a soft, but steady knock on the door. I wondered if it was dad returning but he would have just barged straight on in._

 _"Yes?" I called out._

 _The door slowly swung open and into the room stepped Natalie. Correction, Natasha. And boy she certainly looked different from the last time I'd seen her. Instead of the skin tight, brightly coloured dresses and high heels, she was now wearing a black catsuit. There was a belt strapped around her waist, a gun halter on her thigh and two bracelets on her wrists, which I'm guessing wasn't just for fashion. She looked deadly. And I was instantly jealous._

 _I'd always wanted to be that girl. The one who doesn't need anything from anyone, the girl who knows how to handle herself in a fight, who doesn't need a man to hold her hand or tell her she's beautiful. I could never be that girl as hard as I tried, and here Natasha was, standing in front of me and making it look effortless._

 _"Well this is a different look," I said casually as she entered the room and stood at the foot of my bed. "You should have worn this to the office."_

 _She gave me a thin smile as she crossed her arms across her chest. "How are you feeling Miss Stark?"_

 _"Well, see I would tell you but I'm afraid you're going to go running back to S.H.I.E.L.D and tell them everything I tell you," I said, sarcasm lacing my tone._

 _"I see your father has told you everything," she replied smoothly._

 _"Yes, he has."_

 _She nodded before she made a gesture towards the door and took a step back from the bed. I heard the 'clack' of strong boots against the floor before I looked over and saw someone standing in the doorway. He was tall, dark and scary as hell._

 _Despite having never met him, I recognised him instantly from the eyepatch. Dad had described him to me after their first meeting following the Obadiah incident. This was not a man you would easily forget._

 _"Miss Stark, I'm Nick-"_

 _"Fury," I finished for him. "I know. What do you want Mr. Fury?" Somehow I doubt the director of S.H.I.E.L.D was popping by at midnight for just a quick chat._

 _He stepped up to my bedside and I have to admit, he was intimidating as hell._

 _"Miss Stark, I have a proposal for you."_

 _"And what's that?"_

 _"I would like to offer you a job at S.H.I.E.L.D," Fury said._

 _I tried to control the look of shock that immediately went across my face. That had been the last thing I had expected him to say._

 _"And why would S.H.I.E.L.D want me?"_

 _"S.H.I.E.L.D is always on the lookout for smart, resourceful people to recruit," Natasha said._

 _"So you want to recruit and train me? For what?" I couldn't see myself sitting behind a desk at S.H.I.E.L.D and the idea of prancing around in Natasha's catsuit didn't fill me with glee. So what the hell did they want me for?_

 _"I have a few jobs in mind for you Miss Stark."_

 _"Ok, well that sounds great but unfortunately I'm going to have to decline. Don't know if anyone's told you but my legs have kind of stopped working for the foreseeable future so you might want to go start recruiting elsewhere." Even in the presence of someone as formidable as Fury, I couldn't stop the bitter sarcasm from coming out of my mouth._

 _"S.H.I.E.L.D can help you with that," Fury said._

 _I frowned in confusion. "What do you mean?"_

 _"S.H.I.E.L.D isn't just a counter-terrorism and intelligence agency. We also conduct research and development in a number of sectors, including the medical field. Our scientists have recently developed a prototype biostimulant chip which, when implanted into the spine, will reverse paralysis."_

 _The room lapsed into silence. The noises of the machines surrounding the bed were the only sounds. I sat in shock, trying to process everything I had just been told. It just seemed too good to be true. I get in an accident that paralyses me and all of a sudden S.H.I.E.L.D has a miracle chip that can reverse paralysis?_

 _"You're kidding right?"_

 _"I can assure you I am not." Fury looked like the last man of earth who would ever kid about anything._

 _"Where are the strings?" I asked._

 _Fury frowned. "Excuse me?"_

 _"What are the strings attached to this offer? Nothing comes for free." I was more than aware that everything in this world came with a cost. I just had to make sure Fury's cost was something I was willing to pay before I accepted his offer._

 _"No strings," he assured me. "There is currently only one working chip which needs to be implanted and tested before more can be produced."_

 _"Oh so I'd be your guinea pig?"_

 _"Yes." I appreciated his honesty._

 _"Okay, so I get this chip implanted in me, hopefully it works and I walk again, and then I go work for S.H.I.E.L.D?"_

 _"If you accept my offer, then yes."_

 _"And what if I don't want to work for S.H.I.E.L.D? Does the chip offer disappear if I don't accept your job offer?"_

 _"No. The offer for the prototype bio-chip stands on its own. You can take the chip, walk again and continue on with your life. Or you can come work for S.H.I.E.L.D. The offer is there."_

 _A sat for a few moments and mulled over his words. I would feel indebted to go work for S.H.I.E.L.D if I accepted their bio-chip and it worked, despite Fury's assurances that the chip and working for him would not go hand in hand. But at this point, I didn't care what strings, invisible or not, were attached to the chip. All I knew is that I wanted to walk again, no matter the cost._

 _"I still don't understand what S.H.I.E.L.D would want me for?" I was still a kid, not even 18 years old. Sure, I'm smart, but there are a lot of smart people out there. Why me?_

 _Natasha stepped forward to stand beside Fury. "When I was watching over-"_

 _"Spying on," I corrected._

 _"your father," she continued as if I hadn't spoken. "I was also watching you."_

 _"Creepy," I said._

 _"You're smart, young, physically fit, creative, brave."_

 _"Why if I didn't know any better I'd swear yall are hitting on me," I joked in a thick Southern drawl. I swear I saw the corner of Fury's mouth tug slightly._

 _Natasha rolled her eyes but continued on. "You have all of the attributes S.H.I.E.L.D values in its employees. You underestimate yourself Morgan. You can do so much more than what you think you can." I wanted to remind her she'd barely known me for a month but I felt her words hitting home. I did have a yearning to do more, be more. Maybe this was it?_

 _"Look, thank you but this is a lot to think about. And I'd need to know more about the chip before I'd agree to anything. "_

 _"Of course. I'll send you all the research and information on the prototype S.H.I.E.L.D has conducted." Fury pulled a card out of the breast pocket of his long black coat. "Take all the time you need to think about it." He passed me the card, which was simply a white piece of paper with a phone number typed on it. Nothing else. When I looked up, the room was empty._

 _I was physically exhausted but my mind was racing. My hopes were already soaring, despite the fact that I knew the chip was experimental. There was a chance they would implant it in my spine only to discover it doesn't work. But that was a chance I would have to take. I couldn't pass this opportunity up. Now I just had to convince dad that this was the best option._


	4. Chapter 4

**Thank you** so much to **ZabuzasGirl** , **NicoleR85** , **ArtemisLuna85** , **ChojisGirl2** , and **BestThing-InMyLife** for leaving a review.

* * *

The sound of Jarvis's voice pulled me from my memories. "I'm sorry Miss Stark but Mr Stark has restricted all access to the top level."

Although this was my first visit to the Stark tower, I hadn't expected to be restricted in a building that had my name on it. "Call him. Don't tell him it's me, just say it's a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent."

"Call declined."

"Try again," I insisted. I could just get Jarvis to tell him it was me trying to enter but sometimes it was fun to do things the hard way.

"Call declined."

I smirked. Okay, hard way it is. But even the hard way was pretty easy. Luckily for me, after working with my father for so long, I knew his computer skills and techniques better than he did. All it took was a little hacking and overriding on the elevator display screen. Within a minute I was being whizzed up to the top level.

The elevator chimed and the doors slid open to reveal Pepper and dad sitting on the floor, toasting with their champagne glasses in the air.

"Morgan!" Pepper said with glee as she rose to stand. "Why didn't you say it was you?"

"I wanted to surprise you."

"'Morgan?' Uh, her first name is agent now," dad said accusingly as he stood.

"Yes it is," I replied with a proud tone, trying to get a rise out of him. As usual, I watched dad's eyes track my every movement as I stepped into the room. He watched my feet, my gait, everything. It was like he was expecting me to suddenly collapse and be paralysed again. After 9 months I would have thought he would have gotten over it but obviously it was an experience that was going to scar and haunt him for the rest of his life.

"Grab a glass," Pepper said. She slipped a glass filled with champagne into my free hand. "We're celebrating."

"Just because my daughter now works for S.H.I.E.L.D does not mean she can start drinking underage." Dad immediately removed the glass from my hand.

"That's alright, I can't stay long. I just need you to look this over as soon as possible." I extended the tablet to dad and after a moment's hesitation he took it.

"In the future agent, official S.H.I.E.L.D consulting hours are between 8 and 5 every other Thursday."

"This isn't a consultation. It's an invitation."

"Is this about The Avengers? Which I know nothing about," Pepper hastily added.

"The Avengers initiative was scrapped, I thought. And I didn't even qualify." Dad walked over to his bench as he opened up the tablet.

"I didn't know that either," Pepper insisted.

"Apparently I'm volatile, self-obsessed, don't play well with others."

"That I did know."

I rolled my eyes. "I think everyone knows that. But this isn't about personality profiles anymore." Dad typed away on the tablet before opening up the files and bringing them up on holograms surrounding the desk.  
I watched Peppers jaw drop as she looked at the holograms displaying the selected members of The Avengers initiative. The videos being played showed a raging Hulk destroying Harlem, Captain America giving orders to his commandos, the aftermath of Thor's battle in New Mexico and Barton and Natasha fighting side by side in the infamous Budapest battle. The holograms displayed information on each of the members but the most important information was on the centre screen. It showed everything we knew about Loki, selected information about the Tesseract and even showed security footage of the destruction of the campus.

"Were you here when this happened?" Dad asked as he watched the campus crumble in on itself.

"No. Why would I be?" I walked over to join him at his desk and I could see the doubt in his eyes.

 _This is it_ , I thought. Just tell him now and get the argument over and done with. I opened my mouth, ready to confess what I really did at S.H.I.E.L.D.

"How many times do I have to tell you? I'm a research analyst, I sit behind a desk in an office in LA." The words had poured out of my mouth before I had even realised what I was saying.

I absolutely hated lying to my father but I wasn't quite ready to tell him. I knew it was inevitable that he would eventually discover the truth. Bringing him in meant he would definitely find out the truth, and soon, but I just couldn't bring myself to tell him. The words always got stuck in my throat. I told myself I just needed more time to word the conversation out in my head before I had it. When the time comes I wanted to make sure he understood just how much this meant to me.

He seemed to believe my lie as he left the subject alone and turned back to the screens. His eyes scanned through all the information about the Tesseract and its abductor in seconds. "So this Loki guy, who's basically an alien, created a portal using the Tesseract and then stole it but not before placing a bunch of people under mind control?"

"That's about the gist of it," I said while Pepper mumbled her disbelief. "S.H.I.E.L.D wants you in on this as soon as possible. Look over all of this tonight and call me tomorrow."

While he was displaying only a casual interest I knew he was enthralled. This was exactly the kind of thing he would be interested in. A stolen object, spies and aliens. He was loving this and it hadn't even really begun yet.

"You're not going to stay?" Pepper asked.

"No, I have a flight to catch." I gave her a quick hug before retreating to the elevator. Dad waved a quick goodbye but he was too absorbed in the files to even look away. I smirked to myself as the doors slid shut. Recruiting dad had been as easy a taking candy from a baby. I only hoped Fury and Natasha had been just as successful.

* * *

"Please, just be careful. I know you can take care of yourself but accidents can happen and I still worry."

I sighed but a small smile still tugged at the corners of my mouth. "I know you do Daniel. But I promise you I'm going to be okay. With the people and resources we have, it won't take us more than a few days to find the object. I'll be home by the weekend. Have a pizza ready for me."

I heard his soft chuckle through the phone and I pictured the grin on his face right now. I hated leaving him for missions. I missed his smile, his smell, his touch. But it was always the sweetest reunion when I came home.

"I'll have a meatlovers pizza sitting on the table when you walk in the door," he promised. "I love you."

"I love you too. Now go be an amazing doctor and save people's lives." After another round of 'I love you' and 'be safe', I ended the call.

I was glad the only other people in the jet was Agent Coulson and the pilot. I would have hated for any other agents to have listened to that.

We were in the jet heading for the helicarrier. Everyone on the team should be arriving this morning, where we will devise a plan about how to get the Tesseract back and Loki in our custody.

"Sorry about that," I said. Agents weren't really supposed to take personal calls during missions. It was a rule that I often struggled with. Not being able to see Daniel was hard enough, let alone not even being able to hear his voice. I often snuck away during mission to call him and let him know I was alright. Coulson and Natasha both knew but never said anything.

"That's alright," Coulson stated. "Daniel's good?"

In the 7 months since I had joined S.H.I.E.L.D I had grown particularly close to Coulson. Dad would be horrified to hear it, but he was like a second father to me. I couldn't count the number of times he had been there for me and helped me out, especially in the early stages of training. Whenever I'd thought about giving up or believed I wasn't good enough and thought Fury had made a mistake hiring me, he'd always been there. I would be forever grateful for our friendship.

"Yeah he is. He's just concerned, like he always is when I'm away." Coulson and Daniel had never actually met but when you're staking out a target for hours on end with someone you tend to start talking about personal things. Natasha and Coulson knew practically everything about Daniel and I.

And I knew a lot about both of them. "How's Audrey?"

"She's good too," he replied. "I haven't seen her in a while. I was going to fly up to Portland before all of this happened." Audrey was a cellist Coulson had saved while on a S.H.I.E.L.D mission just before I started.

"I'm sure you'll be able to get some time off to go see her when all of this is over," I said.

I glanced down at my phone, checking for the hundredth time if I had missed a call from dad. Nothing.

"What was your fathers reaction when you told him he was finally joining The Avengers?"

"He played it cool but I could see he was dying with excitement inside."

"So you finally told him about…?"Coulson asked.

I sighed. "No."

He gave me a look that I could only describe as 'disapproving father'.

"I know, I know. I should have just told him from the beginning. But haven't you ever put something off because you were scared of the consequences?"

Coulson shook his head. "Nothing as big as this."

"Our last big fight was in the hospital and I just…I hated it. I didn't want to go through that again." Ever since dad had created his suit and revealed his identity to the world, we'd had more fights than we'd ever had before. And the one in the hospital had been one of the worst. It still gave me a sinking feeling in my stomach every time I thought about it.

* * *

 _"No! No way!" Dad's bellowing could be heard echoing through the halls of the hospital. "You are not going to be some experimental lab rat!"_

 _To say he was not happy with the idea of me undergoing experimental surgery was an understatement. I'd watched his facial expression go from joyous when I told him I'd walk again, to disbelieving and outraged when I explained how. As soon as he heard the words 'experimental prototype' he completely lost it._

 _I showed him the research papers that Fury has sent to me, explaining how the biostimulant chip was developed and how it worked. The chip would be implanted at the level of the injury and would reroute the neural signals around the injured nerves. It converts electrical signals into a wireless transmission, then a receiver picks up the information and converts it back into the original electrical signal which then stimulates the nerves._

 _It had been in development for 8 years and had taken millions of dollars in research to develop the current prototype. This was the first time the chip would be trialled in a human. I could understand why dad was apprehensive about it all but it wasn't him who would be in a wheelchair for the rest of his life if we turned down the offer._

 _"I'm sorry but this is not your decision." I was trying to remain calm and refrain from yelling. I wanted to have a rational discussion about this but that was hard when he was pacing around the room yelling and gesturing wildly._

 _"Yes it is!"_

 _Pepper, who was sitting in an armchair beside my bed, was trying to play mediator. "Tony please calm down."_

 _"No, it isn't," I said to dad. "This is my body and I'm in control of what happens to it. If I want to have the surgery, I'll have the surgery."_

 _He stopped his pacing to stand at the foot of my bed. "I'm your father and what I say goes," he said matter-of-factly._

 _I scoffed at his words. "Since when?" I didn't want to play this card but I thought after a while I'd be able to convince him to do the surgery. He left me with no other option. "You can say no now but I'll be 18 in 2 weeks and in charge of my own medical decisions. Either I get the surgery now or I'll get it then."_

 _With everything that had been going on lately he'd obviously lost track of time and forgotten about my upcoming birthday. I watched him mentally do the math as he realised what the date was. "I can't believe you would do this."_

 _"And I can't believe you wont let me do this! Is it because its experimental? You literally have an experimental piece of technology stuck in your chest for crying out loud!" My voice was beginning to rise in volume as the fight wore on. "This would let me walk again!"_

 _"Could let you walk again! The surgery could do more harm than good! It could-"_

 _"What? Paralyse me? Already there. Kill me? At this point that is a risk I'm willing to take."_

 _Dad looked like I'd just slapped him across the face. Even Pepper looked taken aback. "How could you say that?" he said, his volume considerably lower._

 _"Because I'm the one sitting in this bed unable to walk. I'm the one who will be like this for the rest of their life, not you! It's easy for you to stand there and say everything will be okay when it's not happening to you. I've got a tube going up me so that I can pee, and I will have to have one for the rest of my life. And let's not forget the lovely other health concerns that come along with paralysis like blood clots, pressure sores, hypotension, autonomic dysreflexia." I'd done way too much research on paralysis the last few days. The more I read the more scared I became. I finally had to get Pepper to take my laptop away from me._

 _Dad ran a hand through his hair as he finally stopped his pacing and sat down next to the bed. It was obvious the full magnitude of my condition hadn't hit home. He hadn't thought about all the little things that come along with paralysis._

 _"I know it's experimental and that's gotta be scary for you but S.H.I.E.L.D wouldn't be offering this unless they truly believe it will work." I hadn't even mentioned to dad Fury's offer of going to work for S.H.I.E.L.D after the surgery. I decided to save that bit of information for another time. One fight was enough for today. "I had Daniel take a look at all of the research and he agrees that it's my best shot."_

 _"Oh, well if some random kid thinks it's okay…"_

 _"He's a doctor, which you know since he took care of me the last time I was in the hospital after a crazy man attacked us," I said, referencing the time Obadiah broke into our house, stole dad's arc reactor straight out of his chest and sent me crashing through the glass waterfall in our living room onto the stairs below. "He was genuinely amazed by the research and thinks this could be the solution for thousands of people with paralysis."_

 _"But why do you have to be the tester? Why can't someone else do this and then if it works you can get the chip?"_

 _"Because that will take too long and I'm impatient. The chip has to be implanted and monitored for at least a year before S.H.I.E.L.D can even begin to think about mass producing it for the public. I can't wait that long dad." I reached over to grab his hand which I then squeezed tight. "Plus, if I do this, I get to be a part of history. One day, years from now, this chip is going to be available across the world. Hundreds of thousands of paralysed people will be able to walk again. And I'll get to know that I helped to make that a reality."_

 _He let out a long sigh as he looked down to our joined hands. He was fighting a losing battle and he knew it. There was still one card left he wanted to play. "Pepper, what do you think?"_

 _Pepper, who up until now had been successfully avoiding being pulled into the argument, squirmed in her seat. She was use to playing mediator when dad and I were having arguments. She often tried to remain impartial and rationalise each of our opinions. But this argument was too important to remain neutral._

 _"I think what Morgan said is right. It's her body, it should be her decision." I was so grateful that Pepper agreed with me. If she had taken dad's side, it would've started the argument all over again. "And if the situation were reversed, I think I'd make the same decision."_

 _With my free hand I grasped a hold of Pepper's and squeezed it. To have her support meant everything. Even though it was never said aloud, we all knew I thought of Pepper as a mother figure. I knew one day the title would be official, although it was taking them longer than I expected to get together._

 _We both looked over at dad expectantly. The war was lost, the argument was over. "Okay," he sighed. "But I want to look over every piece of research they have on this thing."_

 _"Thank you Dad." I beamed at him. "Everything is going to be okay." He may not believe it, but I did. Everything would work out the way it's supposed to be._

* * *

Dad had tried to change my mind a few times before the surgery, promising to make the worlds most innovative wheelchair or designing a brace that would hold me up and let me walk again. But I held my ground and went ahead with the surgery. It had been a success, but even if it hadn't been, I would still have no regrets.

"But it has made the fight you're going to have in the end so much worse by waiting," Coulson said, pulling me from my memories.

"Probably," I admitted. "But at least this way what's done is done. He can't stop me or convince me not to join S.H.I.E.L.D in the first place this way."

The jet started to slow and lower in altitude. The butterflies in my stomach kicked into overdrive as I spotted the helicarrier coming up quickly. While I did have some nerves about the mission, the main cause of my discomfort was the unknown whereabouts of my father. If he was already down there on the helicarrier, it meant that in a few moments I would be having a very uncomfortable conversation with him. The second he saw me on the helicarrier, he would know I was not just a simple research analyst like I had been claiming. He would start asking questions and the truth would have to be told. The whole truth.

* * *

 **If you are enjoying this story and would like to see more, please leave a review below!**


	5. Chapter 5

The jet lowered gently onto the deck on the helicarrier. I took and deep breath and followed Coulson out as the back of the jet lowered. The deck was bustling with people. Agents were performing running drills, mechanics were working on jets and standing nearby was Agent Natasha talking with a familiar face.

I could feel Coulson practically leap with excitement when he spotted him. Coulson had yet to meet Captain America in person, although he had been present when he was being 'defrosted' after being found in the ice. Unfortunately for Coulson, his communicator beeped at that exact moment and Fury's voice told him he was urgently needed on the bridge. He walked away dejectedly, glancing over his shoulder every few second before disappearing inside.

"Hey Nat!" I called out.

She greeted me with a warm smile as I approached her. "Hi Morgan."

As I looked up at the person who she'd been standing with, I was blown away. The photos I'd seen of him had not done him justice. He was tall, big and handsome.

"Captain Steve Rodgers, this is Agent Morgan Stark," Natasha said.

"Stark?" Steve questioned as he looked me up and down.

"I'm Tony Stark's daughter," I said, confirming his suspicions. "Howard Stark's granddaughter."

"I wasn't aware that Tony Stark had a daughter," he confessed.

"You obviously haven't mastered the internet then yet," I said with a laugh.

"One of the many things I'm working on." He extended his hand. "It's a pleasure to meet you."

"You too."

I could see the spark light in his eyes as his memories took him back to the days he spent with Howard Stark. Even though he and my grandfather had been friends, I'd barely heard anything about the man before he'd been discovered frozen. And it didn't take a genius to figure out why. My father spent his whole childhood coming second to a man that he'd never even met. It was like Tony had been the second child and nothing he could do would ever measure up to the favourite. It would be hard not to resent the person you'd been competing with your whole life. I had no idea what the atmosphere was going to be like when dad and Steve finally met.

"Is dad here?" I asked Natasha.

"No he's not. We thought you'd know where he is."

"I'm sure he'll be here soon," I promised.

Suddenly someone who looked very lost stumbled over across to us.

"Dr. Banner," Steve said as a greeting as he extended his hand.

"Yeah, hi," Banner said nervously. After shaking Steve's hand he went back to wringing his fingers as he anxiously looked at his surroundings. "They told me you'd be coming."

"Dr. Banner, I'm Morgan Stark. It's so great to meet you." We quickly shook hands. "I've read most of your papers and they are all extraordinary. I'd love to talk to you about your work on anti-electron collisions."

"Uh, of course." He looked shocked that a teenager wanted to discuss his work but I watched as he registered my last name and realised he wasn't standing in front of a normal teenager. "I'm surprised that your father is allowing you to work on this."

"I've been working for S.H.I.E.L.D for a few months now, specifically conducting research and analysing the Tesseract and its energy potential. But my father isn't aware that I will be here so I'd appreciate it if you kept it quiet until I speak with him." Both Steve and Banner nodded and I was grateful for their agreement.

"So the word is you can find the cube," Steve said.

"Is that the only word on me?" Looking at this nervous, small man, it was hard to imagine he could turn into the raging green monster seen in numerous videos on the internet. It looked like all he needed was a hug, warm milk and a blanket.

"Only word I care about."

The relief on Banners face was clear as those words sunk in. He was beginning to see that people here wouldn't look at him and see his past or his 'alter-ego'. All they would see is a great man trying to help save the world. That was all that mattered.

"Sorry to interrupt but we're going to need to step inside in a minute. It's going to get a little hard to breathe," Natasha said.

A siren echoed across the deck, followed by an announcement for the flight crew to secure the deck. The jets were immediately being strapped down and the crew made their way inside.

"Is this a submarine?" Steve questioned.

The sound of rotors being started up filled the air, the hum intensifying with each passing second.

"Really? They want me in a submerged, pressurised, metal container?" Banner and Steve hesitantly walked to the deck's edge and peered down at the engines emerging from below the water.

Natasha and I shared a knowing smirk as the helicarrier slowly began lifting from the water.

"No, no, this is much worse," Banner proclaimed as they realised exactly what was happening. Wind and salt water whipped around us as the helicarrier continued its steady rise into the sky.

"This way gentlemen," Natasha said, directing Banner and Steve towards a staircase that would lead us down below deck. We followed her inside and walked through the hallways as she pointed out various rooms, such as bedrooms, bathrooms and even a gym/training room. Banner trailed behind Natasha while I'd fallen instep beside Steve. It was odd to be standing next to someone who was not only a national hero but was technically 94 years old. I watched as his eyes scanned his surroundings, taking in every minute detail. I couldn't even begin to imagine how hard it would be adjusting to being in a new century. Everything would be so new and confusing for him. If I suddenly woke up 70 years in the future, I wouldn't even know where to start again. I'd probably spend a large amount of my time crying. Steve had only been awake for one month yet here he was already getting back to the thing he did best; protecting America.

"How old are you Miss Stark?" he suddenly asked.

"Call me Morgan please," I insisted. "I'm 18."

"You're so young," he remarked. "I'm surprised S.H.I.E.L.D hires people your age."

I shrugged. "S.H.I.E.L.D likes to recruit young talent. I was 17 when they first approached me."

"So was your father okay with all of this?"

"Not really, but I'm of legal age now so there's not much he can do about it. He worries about me, like any parent would. Which is why I haven't told him my real role in S.H.I.E.L.D. He thinks I just work out of their LA office. When he finally decides to make an appearance here, I'm going to have to finally tell him the truth about what I do here."

"Which is what?" he asked, intrigued.

"I work partly as a research analyst investigating the Tesseract but my main role in S.H.I.E.L.D is working as a field agent."

I watched Steve's eyes widen in surprise as he looked me up and down. "You're a field agent?" Surprise and disbelief laced his tone.

"Don't let her size fool you," Natasha called out over her shoulder. "She saved my ass last month in Istanbul. Took down an armed suspect with just her switchblade and saved me from getting a bullet in the back of my head."

"Wow," he said, clearly impressed. But as he looked at me again, taking in my 5'6" height and 120 pound frame, he was obviously still wondering how on Earth I manage to overpower anyone. I had originally thought my small size would be a huge disadvantage when fighting a man twice my size but Natasha had quickly taught me how to use it to my advantage.

"Looks can be deceiving," Banner said. He, of course, knew all about that.

"So what was my grandfather like?" I asked. I'd only ever seen photos and a few old video reels of him. I decided to take advantage of the fact that I was standing next to a man who'd personally known him.

Steve looked down at me with raised eyebrows. "You don't know?"

I shook my head. "I never met him. He died before I was born."

"Oh. I'm so sorry."

"Didn't anyone tell you that?"

"They only told me that he died. They didn't go into any detail."

"He and his wife died in a car accident when dad was young," I explained. It was still a sensitive subject for dad. The truth was I didn't know much about either of my grandparents. Growing up, I'd asked Dad about them a few times but I could see the discomfort and grief it bought him, especially when talking about his mother. I probably knew as much about Howard and Maria Stark as anybody with an internet connection.

"I'm so sorry," Steve said sincerely.

"That's alright. It wasn't anybody's fault."

"He was a good man. And brave. He once flew me to Austria to go behind enemy lines. We were suddenly being fired upon and he didn't blink. He helped save a lot of men that night."

I beamed as I listened to him speak. It seemed like the desire to help people ran through the Stark veins.

"He never gave up on you, you know," I said. "He always believed he would find you one day. Even on the day he died, he still had people out there searching for you."

"I was told that. I wish he'd let me go and lived his life."

"He couldn't. You were his obsession. His constant search for you took its toll on dad though. I should probably warn you about him. He can be a bit of an asshole at times, and because his dad spent most of his life searching for you, he kind of grew up resenting you a bit. I'm not sure how he's going to be around you."

Steve nodded gratefully. "Thanks for the heads up."

The hallway ended and we stepped out into the vast bridge. The entire front and side walls of the bridge were window panels, allowing us to see the clear blue sky ahead of us and the immense crystal sea now far below us. Rows of computers, each with a S.H.I.E.L.D agent stationed in front of them, lined either side of the room. Each agent had their job to do as the helicarrier continued gaining height. Orders were being spoken into headsets and fingers typed furiously fast across keyboards. Situated in the middle of the room was a large desk and in front of that were the controls, where Nick Fury currently stood.

This was not my first time in the helicarrier so I wasn't looking around with the same awe and amazement that Steve and Banner were. Steve walked over to stand in front of the controls, gazing out at the clouds as they passed by. He pulled out a ten dollar note and passed it to Fury as he walked by.

"Doctor, thank you for coming," Fury said as he extended a hand to Banner.

"Thanks for asking nicely. So, how long am I staying?"

"Once we get our hands on the Tesseract, you're in the wind."

"Where are we with that?" I asked.

"We're sweeping every wirelessly accessible camera on the planet. Cellphones, laptops. If it's connected to a satellite it's eyes and ears for us," Coulson said.

"It's still not going to be enough to find them in time," Natasha said, her eyes glancing down at the image of Agent Barton on one of the computer screens.

"You have to narrow your field. How many spectrometers do you have access to?" Banner asked.

"How many are there?"

"Call every lab you know. Tell them to put the spectrometers on the roof and calibrate them for gamma rays. I'll rough out a tracking algorithm, basic cluster recognition. At least we could rule out a few places." Banner took off his roughened coat and neatly folded it over his arms. "Do you have somewhere for me to work?"

"Agent Stark, would you show Dr Banner to his laboratory please," Fury requested.

I nodded and motioned for Banner to follow me. "Lab's this way."

As we stepped back out into the hallway, I watched his eyes dart around the walls. Obviously the man was apprehensive about being confined in such a small place with hundreds of other people and no obvious ways out except for an 8000 foot fall into the ocean below. I had no idea how he had control over 'the other guy' but I gathered keeping him calm and relaxed would help.

"The lab's been fully set up for you," I told him as we walked side by side. "It's got a neutrino detector, gammasphere, the works."

Banner nodded as his mind began calculating all the things he needed to get to work on. We had lapsed back into silence when he suddenly said, "Can I ask you a personal question?"

"Of course."

"You graduated from MIT when you were 16, you read papers on anti-electron collisions and your heiress to a company worth over a billion dollars. With so much available to you, why did you want to work as a S.H.I.E.L.D agent?"

I took a moment to digest his question as I unlocked the lab doors.

"I wanted to challenge myself," I answered. As the doors to the lab slid open I stepped inside and Banner tentatively did the same. He looked around at the shiny, barely touched equipment in the room before his eyes landed back on me. "My life was…predictable before. I never stepped out of line, I did what was expected of me. I went to college, I was going to learn the ropes of my father's business and one day take over. Then life changed. I realised I wanted more. And then S.H.I.E.L.D came along. When they approached me, they saw more in me than I ever did. I could have just been a lab technician or an electrical engineer, doing a 9-5 job for them and going home safe and sound at night. But they had more planned for me. They pushed me. Showed me I was capable of things I'd never thought possible. I became a S.H.I.E.L.D agent to help other people, but I also did it for myself."

He nodded in understanding as he neatly folded his jacket and placed it on a counter top. It felt good to finally put into words my reasons for joining S.H.I.E.L.D. I wondered if Banner understood me. Even if he didn't, it was still nice to talk to someone about it.

"Can I ask you a personal question?" I inquired.

"You want to know how I control _him_ ," Banner deduced.

I nodded, suddenly feeling guilty that I'd asked. "I'm sorry, it's none of my business."

"It's okay," he reassured me. "It, uh…it takes a lot of practice. Some days I'm not sure I have as much control over him as I think I do."

"Is that why you were living in such a remote area?"

"Yes. He's already hurt enough people."

"I really admire you for what you were doing out there. Even after everything that's happened to you, you still spend your life trying to help others."

"Well I wasn't going to let him control what little life I have left."

We settled into a comfortable silence as Banner began working on his tracking algorithm and I started turning on and calibrating some of the machines he would need. I found myself every so often glancing over at Banner as he worked. It was still hard to grasp the idea that this brilliant, small, harmless man could easily turn into a murderous, raging, green monster. I think it wasn't something I'd truly accept until I saw the transformation for myself, something which I hoped would never happen.

I heard a quick tap on the door and looked over to find Natasha in the doorway. "Let's go Morgan."

"Where we headed?"

"Stuttgart, Germany. We got a hit on Loki." I could tell from the look in her eyes she was hoping Loki wasn't the only one we'd find in Germany. It must be excruciating knowing your best friend is out there, under the control of a mad man who could make him do or say anything. Despite her attempts to make it seem like she was holding up alright, her desperation to get Barton back was written all over her.

"Alright, I'll meet you in the jet in 5."

"It's highly unlikely Loki will have the cube on him so keep working on that algorithm," she said to Banner.

"It should be done within the hour," he said as he looked up from his laptop.

Natasha nodded and spun around to leave. I began to follow her and was almost out the door before I stopped in my tracks. "I know Fury already said this, but thank you for helping us," I said. "You're going to help save a lot of people when we get Loki and the Tesseract back." Just before I slipped out the door, I saw Banner look up with a ghost of a smile on his face.

I just wanted to remind Banner of why he was here. Even though he's cooped up in what might feel like a small metal box surrounded by people he think he could hurt, he's still here for a good reason. He's here not just to get back the Tesseract but to save countless lives.


	6. Chapter 6

_Sorry for the long time between updates! I was on holiday and trekking around Europe!_  
 _As always, please leave a review below. They make my day and keep me going when I feeling like giving up on these stories._

* * *

I walked the hallways, looking for my bag to change into my catsuit. I was tempted to pull out my phone and call Daniel before I left but I decided against it. He would still be at the hospital and calling him now would just be a distraction for both of us.

Being away from him for long periods of time is one of the hardest things that came along with the job at S.H.I.E.L.D. But I am so glad that he came back into my life again.

* * *

 _After dad consented to me having the surgery I was moved from the hospital in New York to a S.H.I.E.L.D medical centre in California. Being so close to home meant that Dad and Pepper could finally go home and sleep in their own beds (although both spent most of their night sleeping at the medical centre with me). It also meant that Daniel could visit me regularly._

 _After a few days of preparation it was finally time for the surgery. Lying face down on an operating table about to be put under an anaesthetic so someone could insert a new piece of technology into your spine was incredibly terrifying. But as I counted backwards from ten, my mind getting progressively foggier with each number, Daniel's hand was reassuringly squeezing my own. I had stipulated in my agreement to be S.H.I.E.L.D's guinea pig that Daniel had to be allowed to be present during the surgery. One, it meant that throughout the 13 hour procedure I would have someone I knew watching over me, and two, it was a once-in-a-lifetime learning experience for him as a doctor._

 _The surgery went as planned, although I was warned that it could take up to 2 months before I could begin to regain the feelings in my legs and many more months after that before I would even start walking again. Every morning and night a nurse would come into my room and run me through a series of tests, all of which I would fail. Dad and Pepper would stare intently at my toes while the nurse encouraged me to wiggle them. Day after day nothing was happening._

 _I tried to remain upbeat and optimistic, mainly for Dad's sake. Every time he saw me being upset about not being able to do something as simple as wiggle my toes the guilt came flooding back into his face. Even though I had told him time and time again that what happened to me was not his fault, he still felt responsible for my injury. It was my decision to run into the middle of war zone and there was no one to blame for the end result except for Ivan Vanko. The bastard was now dead, which is what he deserved, but the repercussions of his actions were still present._

 _Having Daniel visiting regularly helped to pass the time while I waited to see if the surgery was successful. Whenever he wasn't at work, he was coming to see me. We would spend our time talking, playing board games or watching movies together. It was killing me that we couldn't go out and date like normally people. Spending the first month of our relationship together in a hospital is not what I would have wanted. Daniel obviously sensed my disappointment because one night he wheeled me up to the roof of the S.H.I.E.L.D hospital, which he had decorated in fairy lights, for our first 'real' date. He had set up a sushi making station (he had bragged about his ability to make the best sushi on Earth), an ice cream sundae bar, and a projector to watch one of my favourite movies, Forrest Gump, under the stars. After proving he was indeed a master at making sushi, he gently lifted me from my wheelchair and laid me down on the blankets and pillows set up in front of the projector to watch the movie. I saw from the corner of my eye during the movie Pepper and Dad pop their heads briefly around the corner._

 _I think that was the moment Dad finally accepted Daniel. Before then he had been cold and unfriendly whenever Daniel had come to visit. And I completely understood where it had been coming from. His only daughter just got her first boyfriend. That would be enough to freak any father out, let alone having the added stress of worrying if he was just using me for our money. The only time I'd had to really worry about people liking me for me or for my money was during college. Dad had been dealing with that for a lot longer than I had, which meant he was a pretty good judge of character. Which is why I knew he would eventually warm up to Daniel. Daniel was one of the most genuine, loving, selfless person that I had ever met and I knew his feelings for me would be the same even if I was broke and homeless._

 _They starting chatting more and more, and thankfully Daniel was amazingly smart and could keep up with dad. 18 days after the surgery when I wiggled my toes for the first time since the accident, they cheered so loudly and practically leapt into each other's arms to hug one another._

 _My progress was slow but steady. Once I regained the feeling back in my legs I was able to start physical therapy. Learning to walk again was so much harder that I could have ever expected. Going from a physically fit 17-year-old to not being able to take a step without the help of a walking frame was a huge adjustment. It was also terrifying to realise the only reason I could stand upright on my own two feet again was because of a piece of technology in my spine. Before the surgery I was plagued with doubts about if it would even work. Now I was plague with doubts and worries about if it would continue to work. What if it just stopped one day? I would be walking along and then suddenly not be able to feel my legs. It was a horrifying thought that wouldn't leave my brain._

 _Not only did the attack take its toll on my body but it also affected my mental health. Being stuck in a body that didn't feel like your own anymore was horrible. I felt trapped. I felt like a burden to my father and Daniel. I put on a brave face whenever they were around but I cried into my pillow at night more times than I could count._

 _It felt like I would never get back to the place I was before the attack, but slowly over a few months I went from walking using a frame, to using crutches, to a walking stick, to finally being able to walk unassisted. The day dad walked into the physio room to see me walking towards him, he had tears running down his face. I walked up to him and wiped away a tear before wrapping my arms around him._

 _"See, I told you everything would be okay," I whispered into his ear._

* * *

I decided not to call Daniel but there was someone else I did need to call.

Pulling out my phone, I dialled dad's number and wasn't surprised when it went straight to voicemail. "Hey dad. I don't know where you are since they've told me you haven't turned up at S.H.I.E.L.D but they've located Loki. He's in Stuttgart, Germany. Some agents are heading there now."

While it wasn't unusual for dad to arrive late to anything and everything, it was unusual for him to miss the opportunity to don the suit and kick some ass. It was concerning that he hadn't showed up yet, but unfortunately I had bigger things to worry about. After changing into my catsuit, strapping my gun to my thigh and slipping into my combat boots, I headed to the hanger. I swept my long blonde hair up into a ponytail.

I entered the awaiting jet to find Natasha already situated in the pilot's seat, readying to take off. Steve, now clad in his Captain America outfit, was buckling himself into one of the many passenger seats that lined the walls of the jet. He looked up as I boarded and I watched his eyes widen as he took in my change of outfit. I guess no one really believes I'm a S.H.I.E.L.D agent until they see the gun on my thigh.

"You ready Steve?" I asked him. I sat down in the seat next to Natasha, watching from the corner of my eye as Steve lightly traced his fingers over the star on his shield. It would be his first mission since coming out of the ice. I wondered what thoughts were running through his mind. Was he wishing he'd stayed frozen? Was he hoping he could be anywhere else in the world right now? Or was he looking forward to getting back to doing what he does best?

"Yes ma'am," he called out.

"Please don't call me ma'am," I said with a laugh. "It makes me feel like I'm 6o years old."

"Sorry, force of habit."

Beside me Natasha began flicking on various switches and the sound of the jet powered up hummed throughout the hanger. I had yet to be taught how to fly the jet so I tried to study and memorize her actions. She gently pulled up on the controls, lifting us from the ground before pushing them forward, sending us flying out of the hanger into the cloudless blue sky. Thankfully the helicarrier had been flying over the North Atlantic Ocean, meaning we were not too far away from Europe. With the close location, and the advanced technology the jet possessed, we'd be arriving in Germany in under an hour. But that still gave Loki time to disappear. I hoped whatever he was there for kept him occupied long enough for us to get there in time.

"I guess you're hoping your dad's decided to sit this one out?" Natasha smirked at me.

I groaned and threw my head back against the seat. "Come on Nat, you know dad. How do you think he's going to take it when I tell him his only child is a S.H.I.E.L.D agent who gets attacked and shot at on a regular basis?"

"Well it was never going to be an easy conversation but it might have gone down a bit smoother if you'd told him 6 months ago, like when I told you to."

"Tell me you've never put anything off until the last minute. He's always been protective of me but ever since the incident at the expo, he's gone into overdrive. He still watches me walk, as if I'm suddenly going to go back to being paralysed again."

"You were paralysed?" Steve suddenly asked.

"Uh, yeah." I swung the seat around to face him. "Some crazy Russian guy was trying to kill my father and I. I got hit by one of his explosions and was paralysed from the waist down."

"How...uh, how are you walking now?" he stuttered, as if he was asking a deeply personal question.

"I have a bio-chip implanted into my spine that lets me walk again. It was designed and produced by S.H.I.E.L.D researchers. It's still experimental but it's going good so far."

"Wow. It sounds like you and your father have been though a lot."

"You have no idea," I said with a half-hearted laugh. "Part of the reason I agreed to undergo S.H.I.E.L.D training was because after all the shit I'd been through, I wanted to be able to protect myself."

"And now you can do that, and plenty more." Natasha smiled. I could see the pride in her eyes. Never in a million years had I thought I'd be trained as an agent by the women who'd posed as dad's assistant, the women I'd disliked from the moment I'd laid eyes on her. Nor had I ever imaged that we'd get along, let alone become great friends, but that's exactly what had happened. I counted the woman sitting beside me as one of the greatest friends in life. She'd trained me, taught me, and eventually trusted me with her life.

I can still clearly remember some of our first training sessions together. I was more than ready to give up and anyone else might have let me, but Natasha didn't. She pushed me and showed me I was capable of more.

* * *

 _For what felt like the hundredth time that morning, Natasha threw me down onto the padded mats in the S.H.I.E.L.D training room. I groaned as my muscles screamed in protest. My whole body felt on fire, the pain going deep into my bones._

 _"Again," Natasha commanded._

 _"I can't," I puffed out. I sucked in deep breaths, trying to get enough air into my lungs. I was tired, exhausted and just about ready to cry._

 _"Excuse me?"_

 _Somehow I managed to use what little energy I had left to push myself up from the mats. "I can't do this! Look at me, I'm not strong enough! You've got the wrong girl. Go find some strong, muscly girl who can actually fight. Because I can't!" I turned on my heel and quickly strode over the doors that led to the locker room._

 _S.H.I.E.L.D had obviously made a mistake in hiring me. Why on earth did they think I could do this? I can't fight. I have no strength and ability to fight. I might have aced the weapons parts but from what I'd seen, the most essential part of being a S.H.I.E.L.D agent was the ability to defend yourself with nothing but your bare hands. Something I certainly couldn't do._

 _I always hated giving up but sometimes you have to know your limitations. I was suddenly glad I hadn't told dad I was becoming an agent. He'd have told me it was a stupid idea, and he'd be right. Plus I wouldn't have been able to stand seeing that smug 'I told you so' smile on his face._

 _I collapsed onto the bench in the locker room, still taking wheezing gasps. As soon as I caught my breath I'd change out of this stupid and ridiculously tight catsuit and get the hell out of here. I pulled out my phone to call the one person I wanted to talk to, Daniel. Just hearing his voice would calm me down._

 _The door swung open. I looked up, expecting to see a disappointed Natasha staring down at me. Instead I found Agent Coulson gazing at me. After a moment of silence he sat down next to me._

 _"I hope you're not here to tell me to pick myself up, dust myself off and get back in there," I said._

 _"Not if you don't want me to."_

 _I looked over at him and sighed in exasperation. "I can't do this. I thought that I could. I wanted to be able to, but I just can't. This isn't me."_

 _"S.H.I.E.L.D has trained hundreds of agents. Do you think they all just woke up one day and could do it all? That this all came naturally to them?"_

 _"I'm pretty sure it did for Romanoff in there."_

 _"No one is born a fighter. They have to work for it, earn it. Even Natasha. It's the same with you. Give yourself some time and stop being so hard on yourself. You'll get there in the end."_

 _I digested his words. Maybe he was right. I was being too hard on myself for not being good at this instantly. Being a young woman with a genius level IQ, I'd always found myself naturally excelling at most things. I flew through high school without trying and my time at university hadn't been the stressful experience most college attendants have. I'd been great at everything I'd tried, up until now. And that was obviously disheartening. But Coulson was right. Just because you don't excel at something straight away doesn't mean you should give up on it. I needed to persist, to train and develop my skills. Who knows how long that will take, or if I even have any skills for this, but I wont give up. Not without trying first._

 _"Thank you."_

 _Taking a deep breath, I pushed myself up off the bench and walked back into the training room. Natasha was standing in the exact spot she had been before I'd stormed out. I expected her to yell, to say how disappointed she was, to tell me I didn't have what it takes if I give up that easily. Instead she smiled at me._

 _"I see Coulson gave you one of his motivational speeches. He's good at those. He gave me one not long after Clint bought me into S.H.I.E.L.D and I thought he'd made a huge mistake. I didn't feel like I belonged. I felt like an outsider. Then Coulson sat me down and talked me through it. We all have doubts Morgan. You just have to push past them."_

 _I nodded. "I know."_

 _"Good," she smirked. "Now, again!"_

* * *

I thanked Coulson and Natasha every day for not giving up on me. I wouldn't be where I was without either of them. My friendship with Natasha had even grown to extend beyond our working relationship. At the end of a hard day we'd get a drink together, we confined in one another, she was even the one I called when Daniel and I had one of our rare fights. She was the sister I never had. Cliché, but true.

"I don't know what Dad is doing but I know _that_ conversation is coming."

"He should be proud about what you're doing," Steve said. "You're saving lives. That's a noble thing to do."

I snorted with a huff of laughter. "He's not going to see it that way."

"He will eventually," Natasha promised. "Heads up. We're almost there."

* * *

 _Please leave a review if you would like to read more._


	7. Chapter 7

_Thank you to everyone who reads this story and takes the time to leave a review. You guys keep me writing._

* * *

The bright city lights of Stuttgart shone below the jet. I watched the headlights of the cars below me. I could just make out the small figures of people waking on the streets. Everyone in this city was in danger until we got out hands on Loki. How many more people would he kill or control until we stopped him?

"We're getting reports that a man dressed in green wielding a staff has cornered about two hundred people in the streets," Natasha said.

"That's our guy." Steve unbuckled himself from the seat and stood up. He grasped his shield in one hand and pulled down his mask with the other. He looked ready, I just hoped he really was.

"We're going to drop you in Steve and monitor the situation from a distance. We'll be close by in case you need a hand." Natasha bought the jet down in an abandoned car lot about two blocks from Loki's current whereabouts.

"Rodger that." Steve ran down the lowered ramp at the back of the jet and disappeared into the night.

I tracked his location on a map thanks to the chip he agreed to have implanted in his suit and made sure the microphone in his mask was switched on and receiving. Natasha raised the jet and we hovered behind a skyscraper, hidden from Loki's view and just waiting until it was time to move in.

"How about a better view?" Natasha asked.

"Sure." With a smirk, I cracked my knuckles before my hands flew across the keyboard in front of me. Within moments I had the video feed and audio from the security cameras in the streets below us.

We watched as the people in the streets began kneeling. Even on the grainy security footage, the terror was clear and unmistakable on their faces. Soon everyone was on their knees and the only man left standing was Loki. That's when I saw there were 5 of him. I was momentarily confused until I saw one of the Loki's flicker and disappear briefly and I realised they were just illusions. I remember seeing it somewhere in his file that illusions and projections were one of his hypothesised powers. He was dressed in green robes adorned with gold armour plates and in his hand was his sceptre. He had a new addition to his look, which was a large golden helmet that had two large, curving horns.

"Is this not simpler? Is this not your natural state?" Loki was slowly weaving through the crowd. He had the same deranged smirk on his face now that he had the night he stole the Tesseract. He was enjoying seeing all these people yielding to him, willing to get on their knees without a fight. He was feeding off their fear. "It's the unspoken truth of humanity that you crave subjugation. The bright lure of freedom diminishes your life's joy, in a mad scramble for power, for identity. You were made to be ruled. In the end, you will always kneel."

"Not to men like you," a small, but strong voice suddenly said from the crowd. A balding elderly man stood up in the crowd to face Loki. While I admired his bravery, I was sure the man was only seconds away from dying due to his defiance. Steve better get there soon or I was sure that man would only be the first of many people to die tonight.

Surprisingly, Loki chuckled. "There are no men like me."

"There are always men like you."

"Look to your elder people," Loki said as he raised his sceptre. "Let him be an example." The blue energy radiating from the sceptre pulsed brightly. A ball of energy shot out from the tip of the sceptre, heading straight for the man. My heart skipped a beat in my chest.

At the last moment, just before the ball of energy hit him, a figure appeared to descend from the sky and deflect the blow. The energy blast bounced off Captain America's shield and was shot back directly to Loki, hitting him square in the chest. The force of the blow sent him crumbling onto the pavement.

"Well, he certainly likes to make an entrance," I mumbled to Natasha.

"You know the last time I was in Germany, and saw a man standing above everybody else, we ended up disagreeing." You could see the fear on people's face change to hope and relief when they realised who was standing among them. A few began to rise from the ground, obviously no longer afraid since Captain America's arrival. Even after 70 years, people still believed in him. They knew that they were safe whenever he was around because he would do whatever it takes to protect them, and their freedom.

"Time to move in," Natasha said beside me. While she flew the jet out from behind the skyscraper, I kept my eyes firmly planted on the screen in front of me.

"The solider," Loki said with distain as he rose from the ground. "The man out of time."

"I'm not the one out of time," Captain America replied.

Natasha flew the jet into the square so we had a clear view of Loki, and his hostages.

"Loki, drop the weapon and stand down," she said over the quinjets megaphone while lowering the forward turret.

Even from inside the jet I could see the glint in Loki's eyes as he glared up at the jet. With the sceptre in his hand, he threw another ball of energy, this time directed up at the jet. Luckily Natasha had quick reflexes as she dove the jet to the side to miss the blast. I braced myself using the counter in front of me as Natasha corrected the jets position and tried to get a lock on Loki to fire upon him.

While the people scrambled to their feet to flee, Captain America and Loki engaged in battle. Loki was using his sceptre as a sword, as Captain America used his shield to block his attacks.

"I can't get a lock on him," Natasha said. They were moving around far too much and she couldn't fire without risk of hitting Steve.

Within a few moments they were the only people left in the square. Even the police were keeping their distance, choosing to help evacuate people instead of trying to intervene.

Loki managed to deflect the shield thrown at him, sending it skidding away and out of Captain America's reach. That didn't deter Captain America as he engaged in hand to hand combat with Loki. While he managed to land a few punches, it was clear that Loki was gaining the upper hand. He had just tossed Captain America across the square when a noise in the jet drew our attention away from the fight.

I shared a confused look with Natasha as the sound within the jet grew louder. Then I realised what it was. Playing over the jets PA system was AC/DC's 'Shoot to Thrill', which could only mean one thing.

"Agent Romanoff, you miss me?" a familiar voice asked over the PA system.

There was a smirk on Natasha's face as she glanced over to me.

"Shit," I mouthed to her, trying to make no sound as dad would be able to hear since he'd hacked into the jet's systems.

The music continued to blare through the speakers as a streak of light appeared in the dark sky. With outstretched arms Iron Man used the hand repulsors in the suit to send a blast that hit Loki head on before he landed beside Captain America.

"It's about time," Natasha said. I wondered if she was talking to me or dad.

"Make your move, Reindeer Games," Iron Man said. He currently had every weapon in the suit armed and aimed at Loki. Loki slowly raised his hands in defeat. His golden armour appeared to melt away from his body, leaving him in his regular black and green attire. "Good move."

Captain America, who had collected his fallen shield, nodded to Iron Man. "Stark."

"Captain," was his curt reply.

"Time to face the music," Natasha said. She lowered the jet and gently landed it in the square while dad and Captain America detained Loki.

"Why do I get the feeling you're going to enjoy this?" I hurriedly whispered to her. She replied with a grin.

The loading hatch was lowered and I stood up and braced myself for the conversation which was about to happen. Loki was led inside by Captain America who swiftly strapped him down in one of the seats at the back of the jet. His cold, dark eyes swept over me. I wondered if he remembered me from the lab. The glint in his eyes suggested he did. I supressed the shiver going down my spine and looked away.

Then Iron Man walked in. Even with his faceplate down, I could register the exact moment he spotted me standing at the front of the jet. He stopped walking and stared at me for a full 20 seconds. I was waiting for the yelling, for the accusations and demands for the truth. After what felt like an eternity, he reached up to remove his helmet and I was shocked to find him smiling.

"I knew it!" he cried in triumph. He stalked over to where I stood, still in shock at his unexpected reaction. "I knew you were lying about what you did for S.H.I.E.L.D."

"So you're not angry?" I asked hopefully.

"Oh no, I'm angry," he said. I could hear the fury in his voice bubbling to the surface. Any thoughts I had about this blowing over quickly soon disappeared. "What are you wearing?" he asked as he glanced down. "And what is that on your leg?!"

"It's a gun dad. I'm surprised you don't recognise one since you use to make them." While I knew this wasn't the time for it, the words coming out of my mouth were laced with sarcasm.

"Why do you have a gun?"

"I'm a field agent. It's kind of a requirement."

"You're an agent?" he asked incredulously. "Like a going undercover, spying and shooting people agent?"

"Yes."

"No. No way, I'm not letting you become a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent."

"I'm not _becoming_ an agent, I am an agent. I have been for 7 months. I didn't need your permission then, and I don't need it now."

Captain America, who had been silently watching our exchange from the back of the jet, stepped forward and cleared his throat. "Maybe you should discuss this back on the helicarrier."

"Stay out of this, icicle," dad shot back at him.

I gritted my teeth as I sighed in frustration. "He's right. This isn't the time for this conversation." I looked past dad's shoulder to see Loki clearly eavesdropping on our conversation. It was bad enough having Natasha and Steve witnessing it, I sure as hell didn't need a murderous alien watching it too. "We need to get Loki back to the helicarrier. Then we'll discuss this."

Dad clearly wanted to argue but I'd already turned away from him. Natasha shot me a sympathetic look as I strapped myself in the co-pilot chair beside her.

"Go do a sweep of the area to see if he bought the Tesseract," Natasha commanded. While getting the Tesseract back was vital, we all knew there was something else just as important to her that she was looking for.

Captain America exited the jet, with dad reluctantly following.

"Are you going to tell him about the _other_ thing?" Natasha asked.

"One thing at a time." If dad disapproved of me becoming an agent, he was going to have a heart attack when he found out about my other secret. I was starting to regret not taking Natasha's advice and telling him about everything earlier. The conversation we started to have would probably have been easier if done sitting down at Stark Tower or at home, not in the field. But it's just easier to put something off when you know it's going to change your relationship with someone. I just wanted things to stay the same, for just a little bit longer.

But now that was gone, and I knew dad would probably never 100% trust me again, especially once I tell him about the other secret I've been keeping from him. Maybe it was a good thing, forcing our relationship to change? If nothing changed, he would always see me as a scared, little girl that needed to be protected from the world. I wasn't a little girl anymore, nor do I need protecting. I can protect myself just fine now. Of course every parent still saw the baby snuggled in their arms on the day they were born when they looked at their child. But dad needed to look past that and appreciate the strong, powerful woman I'm becoming, thanks to S.H.I.E.L.D. I hoped once we sat down and I explained everything to him, he would eventually see and understand my reasons for joining S.H.I.E.L.D.

"No sign of the Tesseract," Steve declared as he climbed back on board.

"Alright, let's take Loki in," Natasha said, adeptly hiding her disappointment at not finding Barton.

* * *

 _Please take a few seconds to leave a review below. It doesn't seem like much but it makes a world of difference!_


	8. Chapter 8

I could feel dad's eyes hone straight in on me as he climbed back on board the jet but I kept my eyes trained on the front of the jet. I could also feel another pair of eyes on me but I refused to even look in his direction. I didn't want to admit it, but Loki scared the shit out of me and just knowing he was gazing in my direction sent butterflies off in my stomach, but not the good 'first date' kind of butterflies. It was more like 'a homicidal alien who can mind control people is staring at me' kind of butterflies.

"Hey, what are you staring at?" Dad barked. I glanced over my shoulder to see him stalking towards Loki. With a smirk upon his face, Loki finally broke his gaze away from me to look up at dad.

"You have a beautiful daughter," he said in a disturbing tone.

Dad advanced upon him, his top lip snarled up in anger, before Captain America stepped in front of him. "Stop, he's just trying to get a rise out of you." Captain America kept his hands on Dad's chest while he stared Loki down. After a moment he shrugged Captain America's hands off of him and made his way back to the front of the jet. I quickly spun around in my chair, pretending to have not witnessed the scene. Loki chuckled. I refused to let Loki, or Dad, see my fear.

Natasha, who was also pretending to have not seen or heard a thing, got the jet up in the air and heading back towards the helicarrier within seconds. I sent a message off to Fury notifying him that we had Loki in custody. But no Tesseract, Barton, or Selvig. I began wondering just what the hell we were going to do with Loki when he got back to the helicarrier. There was a prison system on the ship capable of holding him but then what? He didn't seem like the kind of person who would tell us his plan and give up the location of the Tesseract just because he was captured. No, he seemed like the kind of man who would have multiple plans in motion, and no doubt one of those plans accounted for him being captured. So what did he have planned next?

After a few moments Dad seemed to settle down but kept a close eye on Loki from the front of the jet.

"I don't like it," Captain America suddenly said as he stood beside dad.

"What? Rock of Ages giving up so easily?"

"I don't remember it being that easy. This guy packs a wallop." He threw worried glances back at Loki, who had taken up staring at the wall but was no doubt listening to every work being spoken.

"Still, you are pretty spry for an older fellow. What's your thing, pilates?"

"What?" I think Captain America was more confused by how Dad could go from concerned father to making jokes in a matter of seconds rather than the actual question.

"It's like calisthenics. You might have missed a couple of things, you know, doing time as a Capsicle."

I could feel the tension radiating off the pair of them. I knew it was only a matter of time before things erupted between the two of them. Captain America had no personal issues with Iron Man, but dad certainly had an issue with him. It would be hard to be in the presence of the man you personally felt was responsible for your fractured relationship with your father and not do anything about it. I had only been hoping dad would be able to remain civil throughout this mission. I was beginning to realise that hope was futile.

"You know-" Captain America began, only to be interrupted by the deafening sounds of a thunderstorm forming around the jet. Lightning lit up the otherwise pitch black sky while raindrops pelleted the windshield.

"Where is this coming from?" Natasha muttered. She corrected the jet's movements as the rough wind whipped us around. More lightning cracked through the sky, coming dangerously close to the jet.

"What's the matter? Scared of a little lightning?" Captain America asked as he noticed the somewhat apprehensive features on Loki's face.

"I'm not overly fond of what follows," was his reply.

I was pondering just what the hell he meant when something large and hard landed on the roof. The impact shook the jet and had everyone reaching for something to steady themselves. The lightning seemed to be enveloping us.

Wind suddenly swept through the jet. I spun around to see Iron Man lowering the jet's ramp. "What are you doing?" I called out over the wind.

As if having fallen out of the sky, a man unexpectedly landed on the ramp. He rose up to his full height and as I took in his shoulder length blonde hair, extremely large muscles and the hammer gripped tightly in his hand, I registered his identity as being Thor, the God of Thunder. He was dressed in similarly odd robes as his brother, with a metal chest plate and long red cape billowing out behind him.

Dad raised his hand to attack but a hammer to the chest sent him tumbling to the ground in a heap. Thor ripped Loki from his seat and disappeared into the dark night sky with him.

"Now there's that guy," Iron Man said with a groan as he rose from the floor.

"Another Asgardian?" Natasha asked. She had been too busy trying to control the rocking jet to get a good look at who had just arrived.

"Yep," I called out. "Thor."

"That guy's a friendly?" Captain America asked.

"It doesn't matter," Iron Man responded. "If he frees Loki or kills him, the Tesseract is lost."

"Stark, we need a plan of attack!" He said.

"I have a plan. Attack." And with that he jumped out of the jet. Captain America sighed in frustration. He grabbed a parachute and began strapping it to his body.

"I'd sit this one out Cap," Natasha warned. "These guys come from legends. They're basically Gods."

"There's only one God ma'am," he retaliated. "And I'm pretty sure he doesn't dress like that." He grabbed his shield and without a seconds hesitation had leapt from the back of the jet.

"Fantastic," I mumbled to myself. I knew I should stay in the jet. I knew Iron Man and Captain America would be able to get Loki back from Thor. But I honestly didn't know if I trusted dad's actions right now, especially with Captain America around.

I undid my straps and grabbed the small silver briefcase located under my chair.

"What are you doing?" Natasha asked.

"Well we got one secret out tonight. May as well get them all out." I unlocked the case and activated my suit. As I lifted up the chest piece, the rest began to form around my body. I listened to the clinking of the metal as it enveloped my body. Every piece slid into place perfectly, conforming around my body like a cocoon. After only a few seconds I was standing in the jet in my own black and silver 'Iron Man' suit.

"Go get 'em," Natasha said as I flipped my face plate shut. I walked to the back of the jet, took a deep breath, and launched myself out. No matter how many times I used my suit, I would never get over the feeling of soaring through the air. It was indescribable. The rush, the adrenaline, the feeling of being free. It was amazing. I loved having my own 'Iron' suit but I knew the fury dad had felt when he discovered I was a S.H.I.E.L.D agent was only going to grow when he found out I also had designed and built my own suit without telling him.

My Heads Up Display was scanning the forest floor below and quickly located Iron Man who was engaging in a battle with Thor. They were leaving a path of destruction in their wake but it was only the pair of them fighting it out. Loki was nowhere to be seen.

"Jarvis, please scan the surrounding area for Loki." Finding Loki again was more important than stopping the ass beating Iron Man was currently getting.

"Loki is 2 miles South of your current position," The AI quickly answered. I had copied the code dad had used to create Jarvis in our home and his suit so I had the familiar AI voice in my own suit.

My scanner picked him up sitting on a rock on the edge of a cliff face, watching the fight playing out below him. I flew to his position and landed down behind him. He looked over his shoulder but did not show any signs of being surprised at my presence or my suit.

"Do you want to do this the easy way?" I asked, my voice coming out distorted through the suit as dad's did.

"As much as I would like to see your hard way, I would prefer you taking me back rather than your father or my brother," he replied. "Besides, they seem quite preoccupied."

I had been expecting a fight and a struggle but as I pulled out a pair of handcuffs, Loki merely extended his hands and allowed me to put them on. I was relieved at having no resistance but something was definitely going on. He had his chance to escape but he stayed put, instead choosing to watch his brother pummel one of his captors.

"I remember you," he said as I tightened the cuffs around his wrists. I ignored his comment but we both knew he was getting under my skin. I don't know why. Since working for S.H.I.E.L.D I'd dealt with traitors, murderers and rapists on missions. I'd proven I could stand up to them and handle myself, taking them down with ease, yet something about Loki was different. Deep down we both knew he scared me and I hated it.

The idea of being so close to him repulsed me but I needed to get him back on the jet. I knew he couldn't put me under his control without his sceptre, which was locked away on the jet, but I still hesitated as I stepped close to him. I grabbed him around his waist and shot off into the sky. His surprisingly blue eyes stared into the lights of the suits eyes and didn't break away as we flew. I reasoned that he was purposely trying to make me uncomfortable and fearful. I was the youngest and smallest on the team, of course he was trying his tricks on me and not Iron Man or Captain America. I was determined not to let him get to me.

I tracked the jets position and was grateful when I landed inside and could let go of Loki.

"Good job!" Natasha yelled.

"Now I have to go deal with the children," I replied.

I forced Loki down into his seat again and strapped him back in. "Next time, let's do it the hard way," he said.

I was grateful to get away from him as I jumped back off the jet. It wasn't hard to locate where Iron Man and Thor were. Between the two of them they had managed to destroy almost every tree in their immediate vicinity, creating a clear landing site. As I flew above them they both stopped their attacks to watch me descend. With Iron Man's helmet obscuring his face, I could only imagine what his expression was but I was guessing it was a mixture of surprise, shock and anger.

"Had enough?" I asked as I landed. I flipped my face plate open and confirmed dad's suspicion about who was in the suit. He followed suit and I could finally see the shock upon his face. But there was something there I hadn't expected to see; betrayal.

"Please tell me blondie here knocked me out and I'm currently hallucinating, otherwise you are in so much trouble." His tone was laced with rage.

I rolled my eyes as I stalked towards him. "And you wonder why I don't tell you about these things when you still talk to me like I'm 7 years old!" He looked up and down at my suit, registering every inch of it.

"You're a woman," Thor said in his rough, husky voice. He was glancing between my sleek silver and black suit and dad's red and gold one.

"Keen observation there," I shot back.

"What are you doing in a suit? Why do you have a suit?"

"Can we _please_ talk about this later. I will explain everything, I promise. But right now we need to get back to the helicarrier."

"You are not taking Loki anywhere," Thor interjected.

"Yes, we are," I retaliated.

"Enough!" A voice suddenly cried out. Captain America flipped through the air and landed beside me. "Now, I don't know what you plan on doing here."

"I've come to put an end to Loki's schemes," Thor claimed.

"Then prove it. Put that hammer down."

"Oh yeah…no. Bad call," Dad began. "He loves his hamme-" Thor silenced him by throwing his hammer straight into Iron Man's chest. He was sent flying across the clearing before crumpling to a heap on the ground.

"You want me to put the hammer down?" Thor yelled. He launched himself into the air, sailing towards Captain America, who readied himself with his shield. I had just enough time to flip my face plate shut before Thor brought his hammer down upon the shield. The collision of the two objects sent out a deafening sound and the force of the impact levelled everything within a two mile radius.

As the dust settled, I struggled to my feet and saw even Thor had been knocked down by his own attack. We all surveyed the destruction around us with astonishment.

"Are we done here?" Captain America asked


	9. Chapter 9

It wasn't until we were back on the helicarrier did I feel a small weight lift from my shoulders. There was still a lot to do and the Tesseract's whereabouts was still unknown, but just knowing Loki was currently being placed in a secure jail cell was enough to ease some of the tension from my mind.

"Yeah, we got him," I said to Daniel. I had my phone wedged between my ear and shoulder as I collapsed my suit back down into a case and secured it in the weapons room. "But the object is still missing and I doubt this guy is going to talk."

"Wait, wait, wait, go back. You finally told your dad? About everything? Your job, the suit?"

"I didn't tell him so much as showed him. But yeah, he knows everything now." I sighed as I leant against a locker and slid down to the floor.

"How did he take it?" he asked.

"As you would expect. He's furious."

"Well at least it's all out in the open now. No more secrets."

"Yeah I guess. I have to go talk to him about it now. I doubt he's going to understand, or even listen to my reasons for doing what I've done. He's going to yell and then I'm going to yell."

"Then you need to make him listen. You're the only person who can make him understand your actions. You got me to understand and accept it."

"Yes, but you are a rational, sane person. And I didn't steal your designs for an 'iron' suit."

"You didn't steal anything. You helped him build his first suit when he came back from Afghanistan. That design is as much yours as it is his."

"Thanks but he's not going to see it that way." I sighed and leant my head back against the locker. "I miss you so much."

"I miss you too. Eating pizza in my pyjamas on the couch just isn't the same without you." I smiled as I pictured our usual Friday night's together. There was nothing I enjoyed more than just lying by his side and listening to his heartbeat. Until Daniel, I had never found anyone I could be so comfortable around without saying a word.

"I love you," I said sincerely.

"I love you more," he replied.

I ended the call and pushed myself to my feet. Dad was waiting for an explanation and it's about time I told him everything. I exited the weapons room and roamed the halls in search of dad. As I passed the lab and saw Dr Banner still working inside, I was tempted to join him. I resisted the urge and kept walking.

"Your dad wants to talk to you." I spun around to see Natasha walking towards me. "He's in the conference room around the corner."

"Thanks Nat."

"Good luck," she called out over her shoulder.

"I'm gunna need it," I muttered under my breath. I stood in front of the conference room door for a few minutes, trying to prepare a speech in my mind. It was useless, he was going to be pissed no matter what I said.

The last time I had been this nervous was 4 months ago on my very first mission.

* * *

 _What the fuck am I doing?_

 _This was the only thought running through my head. I was way out of my league. It was one thing to train for mission and imagine doing them in my head. It was another thing entirely to actually be doing one. What if I fucked it up? Say or do the wrong thing and blow the entire mission?_

 _I thought I'd gotten over my worries and concerns about S.H.I.E.L.D hiring me. They didn't make a mistake. They chose you. They wouldn't have put you out into the field if they thought you weren't ready for this._

 _I repeated these mantas in my head as my eyes scanned the crowded pub. It was a Friday night in London and the pub was bustling with people getting a drink after finishing work. I was perched on a stool at the end of the bar, trying to ignore the many lusting gazes I was receiving thanks to my revealing attire. I had to ball my hands into fists to stop myself from pulling up the neckline of the skin tight red dress I was wearing. I hated having to dress so provocatively but for this mission it was necessary._

 _The target hadn't arrived yet, but he would. Every Friday night he goes to this bar to drink._

 _"Relax Morgan. You look too tense," Natasha said, her voice coming through the tiny, undetectable piece in my ear. I locked eyes with her briefly across the room. She was sipping a vodka tonic at a table in the corner. "What did you tell your dad?"_

 _I leant back in my chair and tried to relax slightly. "I told him Daniel and I were holidaying in Hawaii," I mumbled._

 _"He believed you?" She asked. "What if he asks for photos?"_

 _"I'm a master at photoshop." My eyes were continually scanning the pub as we talked._

 _"What if he checks your card activity?" Coulson asked. He was located in a car across the street, monitoring everyone who entered the pub._

 _"Even if he can get past my security, he'll find a paper trail I created on my card. Flights, a hotel room, restaurant charges, thousands on shopping. Even a surfing lesson package."_

 _Natasha chuckled. "Damn. That's impressive."_

 _"That's why you hired me," I said with a slight smirk._

 _"Target is approaching the location," Coulson alerted us from the street._

 _My heart leapt up into my throat. This was it. We only had one shot at this._

 _"You can do this." Natasha's voice was strong and confident._

 _I just hoped she was right._  
 _I pulled out my phone and put on a miserable expression as I scrolled through my texts._

 _"He's inside," Natasha said, her eyes tracking his movement from her position in the corner._

 _I watched out of the corner of my eye as he made his way to the bar. For a man in his late 40's, he wasn't too bad looking. He had short salt and pepper hair, a small amount of stubble on his face, and amazingly green eyes. Numerous women had stopped to stare at him as he had entered the pub._

 _My mission was to get his attention, something I thought might take some time but I could tell the minute he spotted me sitting at the end of the bar. He smoothed out his jacket and sauntered over to where I sat._

 _"I know this sounds like an incredibly cheesy one liner, but you are quiet easily the most beautiful woman in this place."_

 _"I don't believe you, but thank you," I said in a British accent. I smiled to him but made sure the smile didn't reach my eyes._

 _He sat down on the empty stool next to me. "What is troubling a gorgeous girl like you?"_

 _2 compliments in 30 seconds. Damn, he was really laying it on thick._

 _"My boyfriend, he…" I sniffled delicately. "He cheated on me."_

 _He reached across to place a hand over mine on the bar. I looked up at him, tears shining in my eyes. "He is a fool to ever even think of cheating on a woman like you."_

 _I wiped away a tear from my eye before gazing up at him. "I thought he was the one. I thought we would be together forever." I picked up my wineglass and quickly finished the glass. "I don't know what to do now."_

 _"How about right now I buy you a drink, and you can figure the rest out later." As he smiled at me, his leg brushed up against mine under the bar. I nervously averted my gaze but nodded._

 _"That would be nice," I said._

 _We sat at the bar drinking and talking for over an hour. I have to admit, if I didn't know anything about this guy, he would seem very nice and genuine. But I knew everything about him._

 _A week ago S.H.I.E.L.D had gotten word of a man in London planning to sell designs for a concussive bomb. It was small enough to be able to fit in the palm of your hand but it would let out a sonic blast so powerful that it would kill anyone within a 2 mile radius. We had our suspicions of who it was but we had no evidence. All of the designs for the bomb were on paper and contact with potential buyers was done off the grid so there was no way we could hack into his systems to get the evidence we needed to put him away. S.H.I.E.L.D needed someone to go undercover to either get the designs or a confession. My first thought was that Natasha would be the one to go undercover. She had the most experience and I hadn't been on a mission yet._

 _But after searching through his internet history, it became clear he had a preference for very young blonde girls. So that's how I found myself sitting in a pub in London, flirting with a man who was more than twice my age and who had designed a weapon capable out taking out everyone on this block._

 _Over the course of an hour he became increasingly flirtatious, his hands running along my arms, his leg rubbing against mine. I played along, blushing at his advances but subtly encouraging them too._

 _Finally he invited me back to his apartment. I clutched his hand and leant on him as we walked through the streets. His hand was around my waist and kept wandering dangerously close to my ass. Even the thought of him touching me, let alone the actual act, made me want to throw up and take a shower. I snuggled in closer and buried most of my face into his chest as we walked so he couldn't see the grimace on my face._

 _Natasha was following us on foot, keeping at least 200 meters behind us while Coulson was even further away as he trailed us in the car._

 _My heart was pounding in my chest. Soon we would be completely alone in his apartment. What have I gotten myself into? I wanted to run away but as we entered the building and waited for the elevator, my feet wouldn't move._

 _He became even more handsy in the elevator as we whizzed towards the top floor. His hands were now freely roaming all over my backside while he practically attacked my face with his mouth. As soon as this was over I was going to scrub every inch of my body and gargle a whole bottle of mouthwash._

 _We stumbled out of the elevator and I took the opportunity to catch my breath as he fished out his keys and opened the door._

 _I momentarily forgot about everything as I stepped inside. His apartment was stunning. It was large, spacious and beautifully decorated. But it was the floor to ceiling glass windows showing the dazzling London skyline that was the most impressive feature._

 _"Your apartment is amazing," I said. He disappeared into the kitchen to grab some drinks. I wandered over to the windows and watched the people walking on the streets below._

 _I spun around as I heard him exiting the kitchen. He didn't have drinks in his hands. Instead he had a gun, which he raised and aimed straight at me._

 _"Did you really think I didn't know?" he said. "I knew they would send someone after me!"_

 _I slowly raised my hands into the air. "What are you talking about? Please put the gun down." Fear and adrenaline were pumping through my veins._

 _"You're with them!" he screamed. He stalked towards me, keeping the barrel of the gun level with my face._

 _"Morgan I'm on my way," Natasha said, her voice coming through in puffs as she obviously sprinted towards our location. "Just keep him distracted until I get there!"_

 _"Please," I said, my voice shaking in terror. "I'm not with anyone. I just want to go home." I kept my hands raised and ducked my head to avoid eye contact. I cowered in terror and played the part of the scared girl._

 _"You're lying!" he screeched. "I saw that red-headed bitch in the bar. She was following us!"_

 _"I don't know what you're talking about." I choked back a sob as he stepped closer. I was hoping that he would buy into my lies of not having a clue but he was either smart or just paranoid._

 _He was now right in front of me, within reach. I needed to do something now, I couldn't wait for Natasha to come save me. I didn't have my gun on me. We'd decided it was too risky to stash one in my purse and since we'd assumed, correctly, that he would be all over me, we couldn't risk strapping one onto my body. I was going to have to take him down with just my hands. And if I failed, he'd shoot me. So, no pressure._

 _Before he could react, I swung my hand up and knocked the gun out of his hand. It went skidding across the floor and disappeared under his couch. His now empty hand was still outstretched so I grabbed it and twisted with one hand. My other hand swiftly and forcefully came down on his arm and a sickening crack could be heard as the bone broke. His scream echoed through the apartment._

 _A kick to the back of his knee sent him sprawling face first onto the floor. I placed my knee into the small of his back as I wretched his hands together behind his back. This elicited another scream as I pulled on his broken arm._

 _The door behind me burst open and Natasha raced into the room. She grinned as she took in the scene before her. "Nice job."_

 _I shrugged. "It was easy. He's nothing without his gun."_

 _Natasha handed me a pair of handcuffs which I quickly placed around his wrists. "Bet this isn't what you had in mind for tonight. Or maybe it was," I said as I tightened the cuffs around his wrist with a smirk._

 _After a quick search of his apartment we found a safe in his wardrobe. All it took was a little twisting of his arm, literally, to get the code. Inside we found both the plans for the bomb and the prototype he had been planning on selling. He then proceeded to confess to everything, even giving up the buyer._

 _"Fantastic job," Coulson said to me as we scanned over the plans. "You're going to do great at S.H.I.E.L.D."_

* * *

That mission had gone so well and had given me the last bit of confirmation I'd needed to know I'd done the right thing by joining S.H.I.E.L.D. I need to remember that when I walk through those doors.

Rip the Band-Aid off. Just go in.

I opened the door and stepped inside. Dad was sitting at a small circular table by the window. He didn't say a word as I walked across the room and joined him at the table. That's how I knew he was really angry. I'd only ever seen him 'silent angry' one other time and that conversation had not been an easy one.

"Go ahead," I said.

"I don't even know where to start." He literally looked lost for words but I knew once I started talking he would certainly have a lot of things to say. "This whole time you've been working for S.H.I.E.L.D as an agent?"

"Yes."

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"Because you freaked out when I first told you I was going to work for S.H.I.E.L.D. I knew you'd be furious if you knew I was training to be an agent so I just told you I was going to be a research analysist."

"So you're not a research analysist."

"I am. I've been conducting research on the Tesseract with Selvig when I haven't been away on missions." I knew as soon as the word came out of my mouth I'd made a mistake.

" _Missions_? You go away on missions?"

"Yes dad. Sometimes I go on missions for S.H.I.E.L.D."

I saw the wheels turning in his mind. "All those times you went away with Daniel, you were actually on missions weren't you?"

"…yes."

"Are you crazy Morgan? Are you trying to get yourself killed? You're lucky you haven't already!"

"It's not luck Dad! Do you honestly think they'd send me out into the field if I wasn't prepared for it? They've been training me from day 1. I can handle myself. Natasha trained me herself and she trusts me with her life."

The expression on dad's face clearly showed that he didn't believe me.

"See! That right there is why I never told you!" I yelled as I gestured to his face. "You still see me as 5 year old kid that needs her daddy's protection! I know I may only be 18 but I've grown up more than you realise. You just don't see it. Last month I single handedly took out an armed suspect in Moscow with my bare hands. And I know that scares you, but it excites me. It says I've done the job that I've been hired and trained to do. It shows me that I can help people by stopping bad people doing bad things. And isn't that exactly why you put on the Iron Man suit and fly around the world? Why are you allowed to go out there and risk your life to help people but I can't?"

"If something happens to you-" he began.

"And now you know how I feel." I said. "Ever since you made the suit and started putting your life in danger every day, I've been sick to my stomach with worry. I'm scared every time you fly away that I won't see you again. I hate feeling like that but I trust you, which is why I don't beg you not to go. I just wish you would give me the same trust."

"How am I supposed to trust you when you go behind my back and make a suit!" he retaliated. "Why did you make a suit? Did S.H.I.E.L.D ask you to?"

"Yes they did," I said. "Don't you remember dad? They wanted the Iron Man suit, just not you in it."

"So they want a teenage girl in it instead?"

"No, they want someone smart, mature and responsible. You are only one of those things."

"Well if they have you and your suit, why did they call me in now?"

"Because the consequences of what would happen if we fail are more important than personal conflicts and worrying about if you're responsible enough. And don't think S.H.I.E.L.D was the only reason I made my suit. I was planning on making my own long before S.H.I.E.L.D ever approached me."

"What? Why?"

"Why?! So I could protect myself."

"You don't need a suit for protection. I will protect you."

"I'm sorry, have you been paying attention recently?" I asked with sarcasm. "Because you've done a really shitting job of protecting me. You've been sprouting off that line ever since you made the suit and yet I've almost died twice in the past two years! I'm not blaming you for what happened to me but I can't always rely on you to be there for me in time. I don't _want_ to have to rely on you. I want to be able to protect myself. After Obadiah and Ivan I wasn't just going to twiddle my thumbs and wait around for the next crazy guy to attack us."

Bringing up the attacks was a low blow as I could see the pain in his eyes when I mentioned them. He still blamed himself for every cut, bruise and broken bone I suffered. But I thought after Ivan's attack he might realise he couldn't always protect me.

"I don't sit around at night anymore worrying about what might happen when the next person who wants revenge on you comes along. I'm not jumping at every sound in the house or a car backfiring on the street. Having a suit of my own means I can defend and protect myself. Not only that, I can protect other people." I sighed and leant back against the chair. "And for the first time in a long time Dad, I'm really happy."

It seemed liked for the first time in the conversation, something I'd said had finally made an impact. 'I'm really happy'. Those three words seemed to deflate all of the anger out of him. He still obviously wasn't thrilled but knowing how happy I was seemed to make all the difference.

"You still did all of this behind my back," he said in a defeated voice.

"I know, and I hate that I did that but I felt like I couldn't talk to you. I didn't think you would understand."

"I'm trying to understand. It's going to take time."

"I know." I hadn't expected him to suddenly just be okay with everything with just one conversation. I knew it was going to take time. I was just relieved he was actually trying to come to terms with this and not just demanding that I give it all up.

"Morgan, I want you to be able to talk about anything with me." Hearing those words took me straight back to my childhood. He always used to tell me to talk about anything I wanted. At times I used to think he was overcompensating because I didn't have a mother to talk to. He wanted to make sure I knew I could talk to him about anything, even the girly stuff like periods and having fights with friends.

"I promise I will from now on," I replied emphatically.

He took a deep breath and slowly let it out. "Any other surprises I should know about?"

"Yeah, I'm pregnant." I swear I could hear his heart skip a beat as his eyebrows shot up. "Too soon for jokes?"

"Are you trying to give your old man a heart attack?" he asked facetiously.

I let out a huff of laughter. It felt good to be back to joking with him. We weren't back to normal yet but I knew we would get there. I felt the weight lift off of my shoulders and the sinking in my gut disappearing. But they quickly returned when he asked his next question.

"Morgan…I have to ask. Have you killed anyone?"

The ghost of the smile that had been on my face dropped instantly. I hated that he asked it but it was a reasonable question to ask. Working for an intelligence agency that deals with criminals, terrorists, and murderers on a daily basis unfortunately meant that deadly force sometimes had to be used.

"No, I haven't." Did he think I was capable of that? Did he think it was a decision I would have made lightly? "It's something I have been struggling with since joining S.H.I.E.L.D. I don't want to but I'm worried one day I'm going to be put in a position where I have to."

This was a conversation I'd had with Daniel multiple times. He'd pointed out there was a difference between cold blooded murder and self-defence but to me the end result was the same; a life was gone. I'd been fortunate enough so far in the field that all potentially deadly situations I'd managed to diffuse without using deadly force. But I knew one day that it wouldn't be enough. One day I'd have to kill someone to save myself or someone else. Would the knowledge that it was self-defence be enough? For me, I didn't think it would be. Regardless of the reasons, I'd still have someone else's blood on my hands and I knew that it would weigh heavily on me, potentially for the rest of my life.

"I've killed people," dad said. The first person he'd ever killed was in Afghanistan while being held hostage. It was something we never spoke about. "And even knowing that they were bad guys, it still takes its toll. It changes you and not for the better. I don't want to see it change you."

"I know you don't dad. But I can't promise it's never going to happen. If and when it does, I hope it doesn't change the way you see me."

He reached across the table to cover one of my hands with his own. "Nothing will change the way I see you." It was nice of him to say but I wondered if it was true.

The communication device on my wrist went off. I quickly checked the message.

"Natasha wants us on the bridge."

* * *

 _It seems to be the same few people leaving a review every chapter (which I appreciate)._  
 _It just makes me **sad** that I can see people are reading this story but not taking a few seconds to leave a review, even if it is just one sentence._

 _If you are enjoying this story, if you want to see more of Morgan Stark in the future, please, **please** leave a review._  
 _Often I think about **giving up** on these stories but when I go back and read the reviews, it convinces me to keep going._  
 _It's always nice to see people are enjoying something you created._  
 _If you don't want this story to be the last one, please help me keep writing and leave a review below._

 ** _Thank you._**


	10. Chapter 10

**Thank you so much to everyone who left a review on my last chapter.**  
 **They really do mean the world to me.**

* * *

We exited the conference room and headed for the bridge. I was glad to find the atmosphere between us wasn't anywhere near as uncomfortable and awkward as it had been on the jet coming back. I was surprised but grateful at how quickly he was coming around to everything. We still clearly had a lot of things to talk about but the fact that he wasn't demanding I quit S.H.I.E.L.D or destroy my suit was a huge positive in my mind.

"I'm going to need to look over your suit," Dad said as we walked.

"Why?"

"I need to make sure it's safe. I don't want it falling apart when you're 2000 feet above the ground."

"It's fine dad. I designed and built it using all of S.H.I.E.L.D's latest technology and equipment." Dad's face clearly said he didn't trust S.H.I.E.L.D nor their equipment. "Fine, go over it with a fine tooth comb if you want." It was a small price to pay if it meant dad was going to accept the suit.

"And what's with the suit colours?" he asked.

"What's wrong with silver and black?" I asked, mockingly insulted.

"It's just not what I expected."

"What, did you expect pink and purple?"

"Wouldn't be such a bad look."

I laughed as we walked through the doorway. "It's not gunna happen."

5 pairs of eyes turned to watch us as we stepped onto the bridge. All of their faces showed various signs of surprise at seeing dad and I laughing. The last time they'd seen us together had been on the jet when dad had been brooding in angry silence and throwing me dirty looks. So of course they were shocked to see us now getting along like nothing had ever happened. Natasha shot me a look that said she wanted the full story later on.

"I think it's about the mechanics" Dr Banner said, continuing their conversation. "Iridium…what do they need the Iridium for?"

"It's a stabilising agent," Dad called out. "It means the portal won't collapse on itself like it did at S.H.I.E.L.D." As he strolled past Thor he slapped him on his bicep. "No hard feelings, Point Break. You got a mean swing." The look on Thor's face said he didn't liked being touched, nor did he have any idea what Dad had just said. "Also it means that the portal can open as wide, and stay open as long as Loki wants."

He wandered over to the central controls. "Raise the mizzenmast, jib the topsails." The S.H.I.E.L.D agents positioned in front of their computers looked up at him like he was crazy. "That man is playing Galaga! He thought we wouldn't notice, but we did."

I stifled my laughter at seeing Steve's confused face. I threw him a look that said 'I'll explain later' as I sat down beside him.

"How does Fury even see these?" he asked as he clapped a hand over one eye.

"He turns," Agent Hill said bluntly. She was obviously no fan of his as she stood with her arms crossed and a stern scowl upon her face. I couldn't say she had ever warmed up to me either so maybe it was a Stark thing.

"Sounds exhausting." He began tapping on the screens in front of him with one hand while the other slipped into his jacket pocket. "The rest of the raw materials Agent Barton can get his hands on pretty easily. The only major components he still needs is a power source of high-energy density." As he spun around to face us, I watch his hand slip out of his jacket and brush up against the underside of the controls. "Something to kick-start the cube."

I locked eyes with him and raised my eyebrows. I knew exactly what he had done but I found myself having no desire to stop him. I'd always suspected there was more going on behind the scenes of S.H.I.E.L.D than just what Fury was telling me and I wanted to find out what it was. So I pretended not to notice the hacking device he had just placed and looked the other way.

"When did you become an expert in thermonuclear astrophysics?" Agent Hill asked.

"Last night," he said smugly. "The packet, Selvig's notes, the extraction theory papers. Am I the only one who did the reading?"

"Does Loki need any particular kind of power source?" Steve asked, clearly irritated.

"He would have to heat the cube to 120-million Kelvin just to break through the Coulomb barrier," I said. Steve looked at me with blank eyes.

"Unless," Dad began, "Selvig has figured out how to stabilize the quantum tunnelling effect."

"Well, if he could do that he could achieve heavy ion fusion at any reactor on the planet," Banner added.

Dad only then seemed to notice the Doctor's presence in the room. "Finally, someone who speaks English."

"Is that just what happened?" Steve mumbled beside me.

Dad approached and extended his hand to Banner. "It's good to meet you Dr. Banner. Your work on antielectron collisions is unparalleled," he started. "And I'm a huge fan of the way you lose control and turn into an enormous green rage monster."

I shook my head and rolled my eyes. He had absolutely no filter on his mouth.

"Thanks," Banner replied reluctantly.

"Dr. Banner is only here to track the cube," Fury announced as he entered the room. "I was hoping you might join him."

"I'd start with that stick of his," Steve interjected. "It may be magical but it works awful lot like a HYDRA weapon."

"I don't know about that but it is powered by the cube. And I'd like to know how Loki used it to turn two of the sharpest men I know into his personal flying monkeys."

"Monkeys?" Thor questioned. "I do not understand."

"I do!" Steve looked mildly proud for a moment. "I-I understood that reference."

"Shall we play Doctor?" Dad asked.

"This way sir."

The two of them left. I could hear Dad's voice echoing down the hallway as they walked, blabbering on about all the Stark equipment he had bought on board to track the Cube and where they should start. His joy at having someone on the helicarrier who was just as big a nerd as he was evident. I had a feeling their newly forged friendship was going to last a lot longer than just their time here.

Our little meeting seemed to be over so I excused myself and went to find my temporary bedroom aboard the ship. Everyone had been assigned a room when they'd arrived. With the Tesseract still out there not a lot of sleep was going to happen, but I was in desperate need of a shower.

As I walked I heard heavy footsteps behind me and instinctively spun around.

"Sorry, I did not mean to frighten you," Thor said.

"You didn't," I assured him. He fell into step beside me and we walked together. "Sorry about everything in the forest."

"That is alright," he said in his deep tone. "I am sorry for everything Loki has done to your people."

"Thankyou." As I looked up at this tall, muscled, blonde man, it was hard to picture him being close to the thin, black haired and frankly insane man currently locked away on the ship. As far as I knew this was the first time he had seen his brother since the events in New Mexico. This must be so hard for him, having grown up with someone, loved them, only to have them turn on you and try to destroy everything you love.

"Dr. Selvig spoke a lot about you when we were working together," I said.

"He is a good friend." His expression turned forlorn as he thought about Selvig's current situation.

"We will get him back," I stressed. "We're going to get them all back."

"You are a very brave woman," Thor commented. "On Asgard you would be a great warrior."

I beamed up at him. "Thank you." It was nice to have someone say something encouraging about my skills, without undercutting the compliment with a comment about my age or small stature.

Thor nodded his head to me before retreating down a separate corridor. I wondered what he was going to do while the rest of us searched for the Tesseract. Was he going to see his brother? Would Fury even let him see him?

How would you even start a conversation with your homicidal brother who's trying to take over a planet?

* * *

It felt amazing to finally shower and scrub myself clean. The heat of the water relaxed my muscles and for a moment all the worries about Loki and the Tesseract left my mind. But they returned the moment I stepped out and slipped into a clean catsuit.

We needed to find the Tesseract, and soon. Just because we had Loki in custody didn't mean the world was now safe from him. He would have Barton and Selvig working on whatever plan he had for the Cube while he was locked away with us. There seemed to be only 2 options available to find the Tesseract; get Loki to talk or track it down. The former seemed highly unlikely to occur so tracking it was our best option. After drying my hair and gathering it up into a messy bun, I left to see how Dad and Banner were getting along with their tracking program.

I was not the slightest bit surprised to walk into the lab to find Dad and Steve in the middle of an argument.

"In a few hours I'll know every dirty secret S.H.I.E.L.D has ever tried to hide," dad was saying, referencing the bug he had planted on the bridge earlier.

"Yet you're confused about why they didn't want you around." That's when Steve noticed me standing in the doorway watching their conversation. "Did you know about this?"

"Yes," I said as I stepped inside. I noticed that while dad and Steve were standing face to face, ready to square off against each other, Dr. Banner was standing of to one side behind his workbench. Clearly he was trying to stay out of their argument.

I walked past the men having a stare down and jumped up to sit on the end of the workbench. I saw Loki's sceptre had been placed at the other end of the bench and I made a mental note to steer as clear from it as possible.

"You're breaking into the organisation that you work for," Steve stated.

"No, my father is breaking into the organisation I work for," I corrected.

"And it's called hacking these days Gramps," Dad added.

"Fury had Selvig and I conducting research on the Tesseract but I don't think he was entirely truthful about what he was going to do with the information we gave him. I just want to know who I'm working for Steve," I explained.

"An intelligence organisation that fears intelligence? Historically not awesome," Dad said as he suddenly produced a bag of blueberries.

"I think Loki's trying to wind us up," Steve said. "This is a man who means to start a war and if we don't stay focused, he'll succeed. We have orders, we should follow them."

"Following's not really my style," Dad said casually as he threw a few blueberries in his mouth.

"And you're all about style, aren't you?" Steve said derisively.

"Of the people in this room, which one is, A, wearing a spangly outfit and B, not of use?"

"Steve, tell me none of this smells a little funky to you?" Banner asked.

Steve's mouth opened but no words came out. He hesitated. "Just find the Cube." He swiftly left the lab.

"That's the guy my dad never shut up about? I'm wondering if they shouldn't have kept him on ice."

"But he isn't wrong," I said. I jumped down off the bench and walked over to dad's computer. "Loki is trying to wind us up. Right now we need to focus on finding the Tesseract. Then we can worry about S.H.I.E.L.D's plans for it."

"You're right," Banner said. "I've finished the algorithm. I've just got to enter and calibrate it. Then we can start sweeping for the signature."

"Great, I'll help you set it up." I'd barely started entering Banner's algorithm when Fury arrived at the lab and requested I speak with him privately.

I followed him onto the bridge, where I noticed he had bought up the live surveillance feeds of Loki. He was casually pacing inside his cell. There was a smile playing on his lips. It was becoming clearer that he was exactly where he wanted to be.

"Loki isn't talking," Fury said.

"Not exactly surprising," I said as I sat down at the large table.

Fury remained standing as he began pacing in a similar fashion to Loki. "We need to find out what his plan is, and more importantly, where the Tesseract is."

"Dad and Banner have starting sweeping for the Tesseract's signal. Hopefully in a few hours we'll know exactly where it is."

"We may not have that long. We have no idea what Loki has Barton and Selvig doing while he's in here. We need to get information out of him, now."

"I agree. But I don't see why you're talking to me about this."

"Apparently Loki has shown some interest in you." He stopped pacing to stand across the table from me.

"If by interest, you mean staring at me and making me feel uncomfortable, sure."

"That's why we want to send you in to talk to him."

I couldn't have been more shocked if he'd just slapped me across the face. "Don't you think someone more experienced in this would be better, like Natasha?" I asked. I had zero experience in interrogation and I did not want to start my training by being shoved into a room with Loki and being expected to get everything out of him.

"No, you can do this. Loki's underestimating you. He thinks he'll be able to manipulate you. He'll be less on guard talking to you, and he might let something slip."

"I doubt it." I was more worried about what I would say, not what he was going to say. What if I said something wrong and set him off? What if I accidently give something away about S.H.I.E.L.D?

"Can you do this?" he asked. He'd phased it as a question yet his tone suggested there was only one possible answer.

I paused. "Yes."

"Good," he said, pleased at my cooperation. We both knew he wasn't going to take no for an answer. "Meet me outside of his cell in 10 minutes."


	11. Chapter 11

I watched the end of his leather coat flutter around the corner before my eyes were drawn back to the screens showing Loki's cell. The last thing on earth I wanted to do was go anywhere near that man again but if Fury thought it could help, then I had to push my feelings aside and do it. What was I going to say? What was _he_ going to say? What if he didn't say anything and just did his creepy staring thing. Fury had been right when he'd said Loki had shown some interest in me. He wasn't doing this to Natasha, to dad or to anyone else. Was it because of what Fury had said, he thinks because I'm the youngest I'm the most manipulable? Or is it something else? Maybe this is all just a game to get me overthinking everything and distracted.

I rose from the table but as I went to leave something on the screen caught my attention. Loki had suddenly stopped pacing, standing perfectly still in the centre of his circular cell. His head rose slowly so he could stare up into the security camera positioned outside of his cell. His eyes bore into it, and into me. There was no way he could know I was watching him. His mouth tugged up in a smile.

I had to get out of there. If I watched him any longer I would change my mind about going in there with him.

I still had a few minutes before I had to meet Fury so I quickly rushed back to my room. I needed to call Daniel before I went in and talked to a bloodthirsty alien. I needed to be reminded of what I was going home to when this was all over. I needed to remember his kind eyes and soft smile before I go see the exact opposite.

All of the stress and worry poured out of me the moment his face popped up on my phone.

"Hey," I said with an enormous smile upon my face.

"Hey babe. Is everything okay?" I could hear doctors being paged over a loudspeaker in the background, telling me he was at the hospital.

"Yeah, I just needed to see your face." I smiled into the camera, and hoped the worry and concern in my eyes couldn't be seen on his screen.

"How's everything going?" he questioned.

"We're still looking for the object. This guy isn't talking." I decided not to mention the part about me going to interrogate Loki in just a few minutes. He worried enough about me already, I didn't want to pile onto that worry by telling him I was about to go be in the same room as a murderous, psychopathic alien.

"You guys will find it. I know you will," he said reassuringly.

"I'm glad someone has faith in us," I said with a laugh. I glanced up at the clock on the wall to see I had only a few minutes left until I had to go meet Fury. I didn't want to say goodbye, not yet. "Are you leaving for the medical conference soon?"

"No, they're short staffed at the hospital this week so I've had to cancel it."

"I'm so sorry. I know how much you were looking forward to it." Every year there was a huge medical conference in New York. Daniel had been asked to attend for the first time this year and he had been looking forward to it for months.

"It's alright, there's always next year," he said sincerely. That right there was what I loved about him so much. While most people would be bitching and moaning about missing out on something they wanted so badly, Daniel didn't mind because his job, helping people, was more important than anything else. He was a hero in my eyes for that, just as much a hero as any Avenger.

"I gotta go," I told him as watched the clock on the wall keep ticking away.

"Hold on," he stated. "There's something I need to ask you." I noticed small beads of sweat starting to form on his forehead as he bit the inside of his cheek. It was a nervous habit of his. I started to worry just what exactly he was going to ask me. "I wanted to do this before you left but it wasn't ready in time. I know I could just wait until you get home but since we don't know when that will be, and because life is too short, I want to ask you now." I watched him go digging for something in his doctors coat pocket.

My heart stopped when he pulled out a small red jewellery box.

"Morgan, I know we're young, and we haven't been in each other's lives for very long, but I know everything I need to know about you to realize that I want to spend the rest of my life with you. You mean more to me than you could ever realize. You're my everything and I want you to know that I'm going to spend every day for the rest of my life showing just how much you mean to me. Yours is the last face I want to see at night and the first I see in the morning. I want everything with you. Will you marry me?" He fumbled with the box, trying to open it one handed as he shakily held his phone with his other hand. He finally got it open to reveal a delicate, white gold band nested in the box. Set into the band were a few small diamonds surrounding a larger round diamond. It was simple, but stunning.

The tears that had formed in my eyes as I listened to his speech finally spilled over onto my cheeks as I looked at the beautiful engagement ring he was holding up to the camera. His face showed a hopeful but nervous expression as he waited for my answer.

A million thoughts ran through my mind as I processed what had just happened. Were we too young? We had only been dating for less than a year, was it too soon? He said he knew everything he needed to know to marry me, but what if he found out something eventually that would put him off? What would dad say?

All of these thoughts melted away as I stared into his gorgeous blue eyes and I knew right then that there was only one answer I could give him.

"Yes."

His face burst into a smile. "I love you."

"I love you more," I stated.

"We'll debate that when you get home, which is when you'll get this," he said, gesturing to the ring. I couldn't wait for the moment when he would slip it onto my finger. I knew it would be a moment I would never forget, something I would tell my grandchildren about in 60 years' time.

"I can't wait." I could suddenly hear his name being paged over the loudspeaker behind him.

"Now I have to go too. I'll talk to you later."

"Bye," I said as I blew a kiss towards the camera.

I walked out of the room in a daze. I knew I had a silly, dopey smile on my face but I didn't care. The man I loved had just asked me to marry him. For a second that was all that mattered in the world.

Then my wristband beeped and I looked to see I was being paged by Fury. In my excitement and exhilaration I had completely forgotten about my task requested by Fury. He was probably thinking I'd backed out on him.

I quickened my step and hurried towards Loki's cell. Then dad appeared from around the corner. His eyes narrowed as he took in my huge smile.

"He asked you didn't he?"

My smiled dropped as I furrowed my brow in confusion. "You knew he was going to ask me?"

"He came and asked for my permission two weeks ago."

"And you said yes?" I asked in astonishment.

"Yes."

I stood there in shock, my mouth hanging agape. My dad not only knew about my pending engagement, but had actually approved it? I wanted to ask him where the hell was my father but that seemed too cliché. Instead I simply continued to stare at him in amazement. Dad had given Daniel the stamp of approval when we had started dating but I didn't realized he'd liked him enough to allow him to propose to his only daughter after only 9 months of dating.

Dad seemed to be enjoying taking in the shocked look on my face. "Morgan, I knew I loved your mother after our second date. And I knew I wanted to marry her after our third. But I waited too long to ask, and then it was too late." I could see the sadness in his eyes. "I don't want you repeating my mistakes. I can tell Daniel loves you because he looks at you the way I looked at your mom. And that's all she ever wanted for you. So I gave him permission to ask you to marry him."

I processed his words before surging forward to envelop him in a hug. "Thank you daddy," I murmured into his chest. While it wouldn't have changed my answer to Daniel, having dad's approval meant the world to me.

"On one condition though," Dad said as we broke apart. "You have to have a long engagement. I'm talking minimum of 5 years."

I let out a laugh, mostly out of relief. "No problem." I was in no rush to actually get married. The commitment Daniel and I had just made to each other was enough for me for a long time.

My wristband beeped at me again. "Crap. I gotta go." I left before he could ask me what it was I was doing. I highly doubted that Fury would have informed dad that he requested I talk to Loki so I sure as hell wasn't going to mention it now.

Fury was standing outside the doors that led into Loki's cell. The high from the proposal was slowly wearing off and nerves took its place. The doubts starting crawling back into my mind. What if talking to Loki only made things worse? What if I somehow gave something away about what he were doing? I didn't want to be the one responsible for giving Loki more knowledge. Once again I wanted to back out, tell Fury he'd chosen the wrong person but I kept my mouth shut. If Fury really believed I could do this, I at least had to try.

"Are you ready?" he asked.

"Yes," I lied.

He could obviously sense my nerves as he placed a hand reassuringly on my shoulder. "Don't overthink it. Just talk."

I nodded. I took a deep breath, hoping to get my hands to stop shaking, but I was starting to think maybe nerves were a good thing. Maybe it would help play into Loki's idea that I was a weak, easily manipulated child who he could control. Only one way to find out.

I tried to clear all thoughts from my mind, just leaving Fury's advice. _Don't overthink it. Don't overthink it._

Fury punched in a code into the security panel and the doors in front of me slid open. The moment I stepped inside they slid shut behind me. Loki's eyes were trained on me the moment I stepped inside. He was standing in the centre of his circular glass cell, his hands poised behind his back. I avoided looking at him as I walked up the steps and across the small catwalk to the front of his cell. I finally locked eyes with him as I stopped a few feet in front of the glass.

I tried to keep my expression neutral, just as Natasha had taught me. But as I took in his pale features, slicked back hair and remembered all of the horrible things he'd already done, all I wanted to do was scowl.

"Is it time to do it the hard way?" he asked.

 _Don't let him get a rise out of you._ It's exactly what he wants. He's been trying to put us all on edge since he got here and I refused to let him get to me.

"That's up to you," I said evenly. "Just tell me where the Tesseract is and this can all be over."

"But why would I want this to be over when I've just started having fun?"

"This is fun to you?" I asked scornfully. "You're ruining people's lives and treating it like a game."

"Oh well that's all fun too but I meant I'm just starting to have fun now, with you." His slimy voice sent a shiver down my spine. I wanted to ask outright what the hell he wanted with me, but I was too afraid of the answer. I knew Fury would be watching the surveillance feeds of us, I just hoped dad wasn't with them. He'd already blown up at Loki once over him just looking at me. I didn't want to see what he'd do when he saw him actually talking to me.

"Where is the Tesseract?" I refused to acknowledge his little fascination with me. It was just a trick, designed to get me riled up and emotional.

"Why on Earth did S.H.I.E.L.D hire an 18 year old girl with no skills?" He took a few steps closer to the glass. I stopped myself from stepping back. "You have nothing to offer them."

"Where is Agent Barton and Selvig?"

"They used you little girl. All they wanted was another suit. Now that you've delivered it, you mean nothing to them," he hissed. He took another step forward until there was only 2 feet and a panel of glass separating us. I stared straight into his cold eyes, unable to look away. "Why did they send you in here to talk to someone who could kill you in a second? Do they really have that much faith in their little prison? No. It's because you're expendable to them now. Just like Barton and Selvig. They don't care about getting them back safely, all they want is the Tesseract. Everyone and everything else is just collateral damage."

My face remained neutral but I could tell he'd seen the flicker of doubt in my eyes. The smirk on his face turned into a grin. I don't know how, but it was like he was able to get inside of your mind and expose every single little doubt you'd ever had about yourself. It was true I sometimes doubted if I had any value to S.H.I.E.L.D anymore. Rationally I knew it wasn't true but I still had the thought creep into my mind on occasion. And now he knew it.

Neutral wasn't getting me anywhere so I decided to play into his game. I looked down to the ground, trying to 'hide' the tears filling my eyes. He, of course, saw them instantly and laughed.

"What did they expect, sending a child in here. Did they honestly expect you to get all my little secrets out of me? How could you do that when you can't even get a secret out of your father."

I glanced up in confusion. "What do you mean?" I asked. A tear rolled off my cheek. Loki followed the movement with his eyes. As it dripped off my chin and landed on the floor, he looked back up to me.

"Dear old daddy has been keeping secrets from you, just like you had been keeping secrets from him." I shook my head in confusion. What the hell was he talking about? He took a moment to savour the confused look on my face before he spoke again. "It seems like the car accident that killed poor mommy wasn't an accident after all."

I stared at him, not really taking in his words. After a full minute of silence, I finally said, "You're lying."

"Oh no dear, I'm not. Go ask your father if you don't believe me," he chuckled. "His old pal Obadiah orchestrated the accident that killed your mother."

I looked away, still shaking my head. He was lying. He had to be. After the palladium poisoning, dad had promised he would never keep a huge secret like that again. If he'd found something out about moms death, he would have said something. Even if it was true, how did Loki know this? How could he know about Obadiah? And mom? How did he know any of it?

"No, no." The tears fell again and my lip quivered.

"Go ahead little girl, cry," he snickered. "If you think I'm ruining people's lives now, this is just the beginning. Before all of this is over I'm going to have you under my control. And I'll make you kill every single person on your team, starting with your father. I'll have you wrap your hands around his throat and watch as the light fades from his eyes."

My eyes widened in horror as I listen to him speak. My mouth dropped in shock and my lip continued to quiver.

"I want you to listen as your father begs you for his life. And then once you've killed everyone else, I'm not going to kill you, I'm going to keep you. I'll make you do every despicable thing I want. And every now and then, I'll let you come to the surface so you can see what you've done. Feel the blood on your hands."

I spun around so he couldn't see the tears flowing down my face but he could still hear the sobs coming from my chest. How could a man be so horrible and do that to someone? "You're a monster," I whispered.

Loki laughed, clearly enjoying my pain. "No, you bought the monster."

My tears instantly stopped as I lifted my head. It wasn't the Tesseract's location, but it was enough. "So Banner, that's your play," I said as I turned back around to face him.

The glee on his face instantly dropped as he took in my now dry eyes and triumphant expression. "What?"

"Loki means to unleash the Hulk," I said as I pressed the communicator into my ear that would connect to Natasha and Fury. "Keep Banner in the lab." I wiped away a few stray tears from my cheek as I rushed across the catwalk and down the stairs. I stopped in front of the doors and spun around. "This little girl thanks you for your cooperation." I was now the one with the smirk as he stood with a disbelieving look on his face as he realized he just got played.

The smirk was still on my face as I rushed out of the room towards to lab. Fury had been right. Loki had only seen me as a weak girl he thought he could control. Well now I'd shown him just how wrong he was. The smile slipped from my face as I thought about his words. I knew I should let it rest until all of this was over, but I couldn't. I needed to know if it was true.

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	12. Chapter 12

I walked into the lab to find dad sitting on the bench skimming through all the files he'd already hacked into while Dr. Banner stood in front of the sceptre as he examined it.

"Hey Morgs. We just started sweeping for the signature," Dad said as he looked up. "We should have it locked in a few minutes."

I ignored his words as I went to stand in front of Banner on the opposite side of the desk. "Dr Banner, whatever happens next, I need you to remain calm."

"What do you mean?" he asked.

"Part of Loki's plan involves unleashing The Hulk. We need you to stay calm," I explained.

"How do you know this?" dad asked as he jumped down from the desk.

"I just finished talking to Loki."

"You what?!" he cried. "Why did you go talk to him?"

"Fury asked me to because he believed Loki's fascination with me would lower his guard and he would slip up, which he did."

"I don't care what Fury thinks, you shouldn't have gone in there with him!"

"Well I did. And I'm glad I did because Loki and I had quite an interesting little chat and he told me something which I said can't be true but he seems to think is very much so." I stalked towards him as I spoke. "He told me that Obadiah orchestrated the accident that killed mom. I don't know how he even knows their names, but I told him it was a lie because my father would have told me something as big as that."

I watched all the colour drain from his face as he listened to me speak. I waited for him to say something but nothing was coming out.

"Is it true?" I had my answer as I looked into his guilt ridden eyes but I wanted to hear him say the word. "IS IT TRUE?!"

After a moment he finally spoke. "Yes."

I let out the breath I hadn't known I'd been holding as I turned away and grasped the back of my head with my hands. I dug my fingers in my skull, hoping the pain would keep the tears at bay. I could see Dr Banner out of the corner of my eye. He was stuck between wanting to comfort me and wanting to leave us alone. He looked relieved as he saw Fury, Natasha, Steve and Thor walk into the room. I didn't want to make a scene in front of everyone but this wasn't a conversation that could wait anymore.

"Not one day ago you were preaching shit to me about not keeping secrets and you've been the biggest one of all!" I yelled. My hands fell from my head. I turned back to face him. "How do you know this? Have you known all along?!"

"No," he said sincerely. "After Obadiah died I was going through his computer and I found some files on your mom and the accident and….I'm sorry I didn't tell you. I didn't want to bring it back up and cause you more pain. They're both still dead, it doesn't change anything."

"It changes everything!" I shouted. "Mom was murdered." I could hear a gasp come from Natasha. I glanced over to see them all with similar expressions of shock on their faces, even Thor. "I could deal with her death because it was an accident. Accidents happen every day and people die. Shit happens and you deal with it. But this is murder. She was murdered by someone you thought was a friend."

I looked into his dejected brown eyes, watching as he scrambled to get words out to say sorry in a way he hadn't tried before. I was so sick of secrets in this family. I know I contributed my fair share of them recently but before that I had always shared my whole life with my father. But it seemed like he never did the same with me. There was always something he was hiding, information he was keeping from me in the name of 'protection'. Maybe he could justify it when I was a child but that excuse didn't apply anymore. I deserved to know the truth, and if he wanted the same from me, he had to start with himself.

I couldn't look at him anymore. I went to leave but Fury called out my name, stopping me in my tracks. I wanted to ignore him and keep on walking but I forced myself to turn back around. We still had a mission and any personal issues had to wait until it was completed.

"Stark, we found the bug you planted on the bridge," Fury said, his voice more stern and firm than usual. "You're supposed to be locating the Tesseract."

"We are," Banner said. "The models locked and we're sweeping for the signature now. When we get a hit we'll have the location within half a mile."

"Yeah, then you get your cube back, no muss, no fuss," Dad said. The glass computer screen positioned in front of him suddenly flashed red. "What is Phase 2?"

"Phase 2 is S.H.I.E.L.D uses the Cube to make weapons," Steve said suddenly, stepping forward. "I found your stash of weapons downstairs."

"Rogers, we gathered everything related to the Tesseract. This does not mean we're making-"

"I'm sorry Nick," Dad interrupted. "What were you lying?" He spun the screen around to show blueprints of weapons clearly labelled Phase 2. Each design had a small blue orb at its centre. It was obvious the blue orb would be the Tesseract's energy, from which the weapons would draw their power. "Did you know about this?" he asked as he looked to me.

"No." I was offended that he would even think I had played a willing part in this. "I told you, I knew S.H.I.E.L.D had plans for the Tesseract but I didn't know what they were." I suddenly felt foolish for believing that S.H.I.E.L.D wasn't going to use the Tesseract's unlimited energy for their own personal gain.

"I didn't sign up for this," Banner said.

"You want to think about removing yourself from this environment Doctor," Natasha said from beside me.

"I was in Calcutta. I was pretty well removed."

"Loki's manipulating you."

"And you've been doing what exactly?"

"You didn't come here because I bat my eyelashes at you."

"Yes, and I'm not leaving just because you get a little twitchy. I'd like to know why S.H.I.E.L.D is using the Tesseract to make weapons of mass destruction," Banner said as he pointed to the blueprints for the weapons still displayed on the screen.

"Because of him." Fury pointed at finger towards a very confused Thor.

"Me?" he asked incredulously.

"Last year Earth had a visitor from another planet who had a grudge match that levelled a small town. We learned that not only are we not alone, but we are hopelessly, hilariously, outgunned," Fury explained.

"My people want nothing but peace with your planet."

"But you're not the only people out there, are you? And you're not the only threat. The world's filling up with people that can't be matched, that can't be controlled."

"Like you controlled the Cube?" Steve asked.

Thor stepped forward. "Your work with the Tesseract is what drew Loki to it, and his allies. It is a signal to all the realms that the Earth if ready for a higher form of war."

"You forced our hand. We had to come up with something," Fury said.

"A nuclear deterrent," Dad said. "Because that always calms everything right down."

"Remind me again how you made your fortune, Stark."

"I'm sure if he still made weapons, Stark would be neck-deep," Steve remarked.

"Hold on. How is this now about me?"

"I'm sorry, isn't everything?"

A stood silently, watching as the 6 adults around me continue to bicker and quarrel like children. I might have joined in, demanded answers, if I wasn't still in shock and trying to process all this new information. My mum was murdered by that asshole Obadiah. I'd been working for S.H.I.E.L.D, trusting them, only to find out they were going to use my research on the Tesseract to build the most powerful weapons on the planet. I should have asked more questions from the start. Demanded to know everything they planned to do with the Tesseract. But I'd been naïve and blind, just grateful that they'd offered me a job and a different life. My naivety was catching up to me now.

"I mean, what are we, a team?" Banner said. "No, we're a chemical mixture that makes chaos. We're a time bomb."

"You need to step away," Fury stated.

"Why shouldn't the guy let off a little steam?" Dad remarked as he laid a hand of Steve's shoulder.

Steve instantly knocked his hand away. "You know damn well why. Back off!"

"Oh, I'm starting to want you to make me." I knew this showdown had been coming. All of dad's repressed anger and resentment towards Steve had slowly been bubbling to the surface and now he was about to blow.

"Big man in a suit of armour. Take that off, what are you?"

Dad didn't hesitate. "Genius, billionaire, playboy, philanthropist."

"I know guys with none of that worth ten of you," Steve spat. "I've seen the footage. The only thing you really fight for is yourself. You may not be a threat but you better stop pretending to be a hero."

I may have been angry at dad but I still had the innate desire to defend him. He may not be as patriotic and pure-hearted as Steve, but he was still a hero, just as much as him. "If you've really seen the footage then you know he is a hero," I commented. I could feel my anger pulsing in my veins, suddenly getting stronger. I had no idea where it was coming from but I was beginning to become just as irritated as everybody else in the room. "Besides, everything special about you Steve came out of a bottle."

I was shocked as soon as the words escaped from my mouth. I had no idea where that comment, or the rage behind it, had come from. Dad looked equally as shocked, while Steve just looked at me in stunned silence. I wanted to apologize but at the same time I wanted to keep going, to let it all out and scream.

"Agent Romanoff," Fury suddenly said, breaking to tense silence. "Would you please escort Dr. Banner back to his-"

"Where? You rented my room."

"The cell was just in case-" Fury began.

"In case you needed to kill me. But you can't. I know, I tried."

Another silence descended upon the room. We all looked at Banner with surprise and a small amount of pity.

"I got low. I didn't see an end," he explained. "So, I put a bullet in my mouth and the other guy spit it out. So I moved on. I focused on helping other people. I was good. Until you dragged me back into this freak show and put everyone here at risk. You want to know my secret? You want to know how I stay calm?"

Slowly, as if not even realising it, Banner reached back and picked up the sceptre. My hand, as well as Natasha's and Fury's, instantly went for our guns.

"Dr Banner, put down the sceptre," Steve said.

Banner looked down at the weapon grasped tightly in his hand. He blinked, seemly as surprised as the rest of us that he had picked up the sceptre.

An alarm sounded from one of the computers. The Tesseract had been located.

"Sorry kids, you don't get to see my party trick after all." Banner placed the sceptre back on the bench. Natasha and I followed Banner over to the computer to see where the Tesseract had been found, while everyone else began arguing about who was going to retrieve it.

"Oh my god," Banner said.

"What?" I looked over to briefly see a map of New York City before my attention was drawn to the sound of an explosion outside. Seconds later the flames and energy from the blast reached the room, exploding up through the grates in the floor.

I felt the floor beneath my feet give way. My stomach practically jumped up into my throat as I plunged down into the service halls beneath the room. Pain burst to life in each of my wrists as I reached out to break my fall. My knees hit the cold hard metal of the grate I landed on a second later. Glass and debris showered down upon me.

Gasping, I rolled onto my side to see I wasn't alone. Natasha and Banner had both fallen through with me. Thankfully it looked like Banner was out cold.

"Are you okay?" a concerned voice shouted from above. I looked up to see dad peering down through the gap. He had ash on his face from the explosion and a cut above his eyebrow.

"Yeah, we're fine," I called back. "Go help them."

"Are you sure?" He looked over to Banner, obviously concerned he was about to Hulk out, but the man was lying still and unresponsive.

"Yes, now go!"

He nodded and disappeared. Sirens and alarms were now blaring throughout the ship. No doubt whatever had just happened was part of Loki's plan. I needed to get up there and see just what the hell was going on.

"I need a hand," Natasha said. I crawled to my feet and made my way to her. Her leg was pinned underneath a pipe which had been damaged and ripped from the wall in the blast.

"Hold on," I said. I reached down and attempted to lift the pipe, only to find out it was extremely heavier than it looked. "Crap," I mumbled.

"I don't think we're fine anymore," Natasha suddenly said.

I glanced over my shoulder. Banner was waking up, his hands balled into fists as he grunted in pain.

"Shit." I pulled harder at the pipe while Natasha tried to wiggle out from underneath it but it wasn't working. Banner was trying to fight against the monster wanting to rise up but it looked like he was losing that fight. I abandoned my efforts to lift up the pipe and walked over to where he laid, writhing in pain. "I'm sorry Doctor," I said before I bought my fist down across his face twice.

"Son of a bitch!" My fist was throbbing in agony but it had done the job. Banner was knocked out again, giving us more time to get out of here. "He's got one hard head."

After another minute of trying, I managed to lift the pipe up enough for Natasha to slide her leg out from beneath it. "Thanks," she said.

"Let's go find out what's going on."

"I'm going to stay here, just in case he wakes up again," Natasha said.

I wanted to stay with her but I knew I would be more useful if I could get to my suit and help with whatever was going on up there. I jumped up the steps and started for the weapons room, where my suit was securely locked up.

I switched on my earpiece and found out that a small plane with Loki's brainwashed soldiers had boarded the helicarrier and had destroyed one of the engines. If they managed to destroy another one we'd be in serious trouble.

I felt comfort and relief as I reached the weapons room and felt the suit enclosed me in. Even though I knew the suit didn't make me invincible, I still felt like I could take on anything or anyone in it.

I re-emerged from the weapons room and was immediately assaulted with a hail of bullets being fired upon me. Two S.H.I.E.L.D agents, dressed in combat gear, were positioned at the end of the hall. They were obviously under Loki's control as they continued to fire. A blast from the repulsors in my hands sent them tumbling to the ground unconscious.

"Hostiles are on board," I said, the connection relaying this into everyone's earpieces. "They're dressed in S.H.I.E.L.D gear."

"Copy that," Fury replied.

I was torn between what I should do. I wanted to go around the ship and take out all the hostiles I could find but we were one engine down and all they had to do was take out one more and we'd be toast. So instead I raced to the nearest exit and launched myself into the sky. The sooner I fixed the damaged engine, the sooner I could go back inside and help stop the attack. Part of my mind was screaming at me to go back inside now but I ignored it. I had to believe the agents on the ship would be able to handle it. Right now the engine was more important.

I flew over the engine to do a quick survey of the damage. The primary structure was intact but there was a lot of damage and debris blocking the rotors. That's when I noticed Dad was already down there working on the engine.

"What have we got?" I asked as I flew down into the rotors to join him.

"Rogers has gotten the relays back up but we need to clear the debris out of the rotors before we can kick start it again," he said, his voice sounding clear through our connected intercom system.

"Okay, let's do it." Together we worked, using the lasers in our suits to break up the larger pieces blocking the rotors. Even though we were in the middle of a deadly attack and literally had the lives on everyone on board the hellicarrier relying on us, it felt so good to be working side by side with dad. We worked in synch and in that moment I felt more connected to him than I had felt in months. For a moment I even had a small smile on my face.

That disappeared the moment I heard a thunderous roar echo from the ship. It was a sound that could have only come from one thing.

"Hulk and Thor are on level 4," Fury said.

It was still a serious situation but my worries eased slightly when I heard Thor was taking care of it. If anyone was going to be able to stop The Hulk, it would be Thor and that hammer of his.

"Okay, now we need to reengage this thing," Iron Man said as the last piece of debris fell from the rotor.

"It won't restart without a jump," I said. "We're going to have to get in there and push it."

"If that thing gets up to speed you'll be shredded," Captain America exclaimed.

I was glad I'd studied the design of the helicarrier when I'd first joined S.H.I.E.L.D. "That stator control unit can reverse the polarity long enough to disengage maglev and that could-" I began.

"Speak English!" Captain America said.

"See that red lever?" I asked. "It will slow the rotors down long enough for us to get out. Stand by and wait for the word."

"Get out of here Morgan," Iron Man called out. "I'm not letting you-"

"Don't even start this." I ignored his words and his concern. I began pushing against the rotors and he soon joined me. Slowly but surely with the combined strengths from our suits the rotors began to move. We'd barely done one lap before the helicarrier started to slowly drop.

"Crap, they must have taken out another engine," I said.

"Starks, we're losing altitude," Fury's voice informed us.

"Yeah, we noticed," was Iron Man's curt reply.

We needed to get this engine going, and now or the helicarrier would literally drop from the sky. I focused every bit of energy I had in the suit into the boot repulsors, pushing me harder against the rotors. We pushed harder and the rotors began moving faster and faster but the helicarrier continued to fall. As I pushed with every bit of strength I had, I noticed something large drop from the ship. It quickly disappeared beneath the clouds before I could see what it was.

We spun around and around in circles as the rotors picked up speed. After a minute I could feel the helicarrier slow its descent before it stopped completely. We'd done it.

"Cap hit the lever," Iron Man said.

"I need a minute here!" Captain America yelled.

"Lever! Now!"

We continued to spin faster with every passing second. The rotors began spinning faster than us, sending us slamming back into the rotors behind us.

"Crap," dad muttered just before we were forced down into the small space below the rotors. We were getting tossed around like rag dolls.

"Steve!" I yelled.

For a moment I wondered if he'd been killed, and we were about to be ripped to shreds by the engine. But then the rotors slowed ever so slightly. We slipped beneath the gaps and tumbled into the sky. While I floated in the sky, taking a moment to catch my breath, Iron Man shot off instantly. I followed after him and watched as he body slammed into the man who had been shooting at Captain America.

I landed beside Captain America and flipped my face plate open. "Thanks."

"No worries," he got out in between breaths.

Together we walked down to join dad who was still lying on the floor next to the man he'd taken out.

"All hostiles have left," Fury informed us. "Agent Coulson is down."

I felt my breath hitch in my throat as I heard those words.

"A medical team is on the way to the lockup," another voice said.

"They're here." Fury's tone already told me the next words he was going to say. "They called it."

"No."

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	13. Chapter 13

I deactivated the suit where I stood, not caring about locking it away safely. I'd already taken off running before the last piece had hit the floor. I heard dad call my name but I ignored him and continued to run.

This couldn't be happening. It must have been a communications error. I must have heard it wrong. Coulson couldn't be dead. He just couldn't be.

The first thing I noticed as I ran into the lockup was that the huge circular glass prison that had been holding Loki was no longer there. In the back of my mind I realised this must have been the object I saw drop from the helicarrier earlier.

Then I saw him. He was slumped against the wall. He eyes were open, unblinking. There was a large blood stain on his shirt over his chest. I'd needed to see it with my own eyes to believe it, but now I knew that image would stay with me forever. I could feel the tears flowing down my cheeks as I stood there, silently staring at his body. I was stuck, unable to move closer to him but not able to leave. I just stood there, wishing it wasn't true, wishing there was something I could do to bring him back.

I was grateful when I felt dad put an arm around me and lead me out of the room. "Let's go," he was muttering. I was surprised when I looked up into his face to see tears shining in his eyes.

He led me through the halls, his arm never leaving my shoulders. There was a large amount of destruction throughout the ship and some bodies lying prone on the floor but we didn't stop. He steered me into the conference room we'd had our conversation in, only hours before. It seemed like days ago.

After letting me cry silently for a few minutes, he spoke. "I'm sorry Morgan. I know he was a friend."

"He wasn't just a friend," I said despondently. "He was the one who got me through my first few months at S.H.I.E.L.D when I thought I couldn't do it. He helped me get back up every time I fell down. He helped me realise I had so much more potential than I ever knew."

I reached for the tissues he'd placed on the table and wiped the tears from my face.

"I don't know if I can do this without him," I mumbled.

"Of course you can." Dad sat down across from me and reached a hand over to grab one of mine. "You know that I don't like you working for S.H.I.E.L.D or flying around out there in your own suit, but from what I've already heard and seen, you're a brilliant S.H.I.E.L.D agent. Coulson saw that in you from the start, and now I am too. He believed in you Morgan, and he would want you to keep on going."

I wanted to enjoy his words. He was finally accepting me as an agent. But I only had one thought running across my mind now. "It's my fault."

"What?"

"This is my fault. I knew I should have stayed inside the ship and looked for Loki's men. But instead I went outside to fix the engine and now Coulson is dead."

"None of this is your fault-"

"Of course it is! I should have known they were going to free Loki. I should have gone straight to his cell and stopped them. You could have handled the engine yourself! I could have stopped them."

"Or maybe you would be dead too."

"Or maybe Coulson wouldn't be."

"You can't think about what could have been. All we can do is make sure we avenge Coulson."

I almost smiled as I heard the word. Was it ironic that Coulson had been the one to call the team The Avengers, and here we were, about to try and avenge his murder? The sad thing was, he was so excited about the team finally getting together, only he never truly got to see us together. All we'd done so far is fight and argue about S.H.I.E.L.D, Loki, and the Tesseract. We weren't a team. We weren't The Avengers. We were a mess.

I didn't even know who was left after the battle. I should have been more concerned for them. Gone looking for Natasha, or Steve, or Banner. But honestly, at that moment, I didn't care. Coulson was dead. Could it even get any worse?

Dad eventually left the room. Was he going to find out what we did from here? I knew we still needed to find the Tesseract, but all I cared about now was finding Loki. Dad was right, I was sure as hell going to avenge Coulson.

In my time at S.H.I.E.L.D I'd never had to kill anyone before. Now I found myself lusting after Loki's blood. I wanted to see the light drain from his eyes. I didn't even know if he could die, but I sure as hell wanted to try.

I don't know how long I sat in that room for. I was replaying everything that had happened today over and over in my mind. Dad accepted that I worked for S.H.I.E.L.D, I got engaged, talked to Loki and got him to reveal his plan, found out my mother had been murdered, helped save the ship from falling out of the sky. And Coulson died. How had all of this happened in just a few short hours. How could I go from feeling the happiest I had ever felt in my life, to the absolute worst? It all seemed like a dream. I wished it was. I wanted to wake up from this nightmare.

I wanted Coulson. He was a mentor, a friend, a father figure. How could someone just be gone? Here one moment and departed the next? His whole life, everything he'd worked and fought for, was gone because of one man. The worst part is I never got to tell him how much he really meant to me. I never got to tell him I admired him, that I looked up to him, that he was the agent that I aspire to be one day. He knew it, but knowing it and hearing it said aloud are two different things. And now I'll forever regret not telling him while he was alive.

The regret I felt at not telling Coulson how much he meant to me made me realise I couldn't keep fighting with dad. We'd both kept our fair share of secrets. We both had a right to be angry and resentful at the other but we just had to move past it. Life is short. We've all realised that today. And this war isn't over yet. In all likelihood, more people will die. Heaven forbid dad dies and I was still fighting with him about keeping secrets, I would never forgive myself. So I'm forgiving him. And I need to tell him this before anything else happens. Whatever comes next, we'll be facing it together, side by side.

As I was collecting myself, my phone rang. I pulled it from my pocket and looked at the caller ID. Daniel. As much as I wanted to hear his voice right now, I ignored his call. He would instantly be able to hear something was wrong in my voice and the second he asked about it, I knew I would break down into tears again, which is something which I just couldn't afford to do right now. My phone stopped ringing before letting out a beep, telling me he had left a message. I reminded myself to check it later.

I left the room to find dad, and to also find out what the next step was. We still have to find the Tesseract. We have to stop Loki and make sure Coulson's death wasn't in vain. Every hallway I walked down showed the scars of battle. Bullet holes covered the walls while the casings littered the floors. Explosions that had been extinguished left scorch marks in their place. Trails of blood weaved through the halls as injured agents ignored their wounds to keep doing their jobs.

As I stepped onto the bridge, I suddenly felt guilty for taking the time to mourn Coulson. Agents were still at their stations. Some keeping the helicarrier up in the air, others still monitoring for any signs of the Tesseract. All of these people missed Coulson, but they were still doing their jobs. They realised that it wasn't over yet. There would be time to mourn and cry later, but right now they were still saving the world.

And what had I been doing? Crying away in a room by myself. I felt guilty and ashamed. Coulson had taught me better than that. If the mission wasn't over, there was no time to stop for anything or anyone.

As I walked past the table, I saw a bunch of cards scattered across it. Some were coated in blood. I knew without picking them up that they were Coulson's Captain America cards, the ones he had been so desperate to get signed by the man himself. Now they were ruined; smeared with his blood and forever unsigned.

I swallowed the lump that had formed in my throat. I had to push these feelings aside. I couldn't be sad anymore. I was an agent and I had a job to do.

I resumed roaming the halls in search in for dad. I was walking by the room where it happened when I heard Steve's voice.

"Is this the first time you've lost a soldier?" he asked.

I wondered if he was talking to another agent but then I heard dad's voice. "We are not soldiers." I was surprised to hear both sorrow and fury in his tone. I guess he was taking Coulson's death harder than I expected him to.

I walked into the room, which now looked large and empty without the glass prison sitting in the middle of it. It was just Steve and dad in the room.

"Where is everyone?" I asked. I made myself look at dad, and not at the blood stain on the wall.

"Well Thor and Banner are gone," dad replied.

"What do you mean gone?" I asked hurriedly. He obviously sensed my panic as he quickly explained that Thor had been trapped by Loki in the glass prison and dropped from the helicarrier while The Hulk had attacked a jet and fallen out of the sky.

I prayed that they were both alright. I had no idea if Asgardians were immortal and even though I knew The Hulk was tough, falling out of the sky was still a big deal.

"And Natasha's watching over Barton after she managed to get rid of Loki's control of him."

Well at least some good came out of the attack on the helicarrier. Natasha had her best friend back and he was no longer under Loki's spell. I'm sure she would feel relieved but it would be hard to feel happy after losing so much. Coulson was dead and Thor and Banner's whereabout were unknown. We were 3 men down and still had no clue as to where the Tesseract was and what Loki planned to do with it.

"So what do we do now?" I asked. We couldn't just give up but right now it seemed like we were losing the battle.

"We find out where Loki is and we stop him," Steve said, as if it was as simple as it sounded.

"We don't know where Loki is, or where he's going," I reminded him. "What about agent Barton? Does he remember anything about what he was doing for Loki or what his plans are?"

Dad shook his head as he leant against the railing. "Last thing he remembers is talking to you and Fury before Loki came through the portal and did his magic mind control voodoo."

I wondered if his comment was his way of subtly signalling that he knew that I was at the facility when it was destroyed.

"What about that tracking thing Dr Banner was working on to find the Tesseract?" Steve asked.

"All of the lab equipment was destroyed in the attack," dad said.

"I only managed to get a quick glimpse of where Banner had tracked the Tesseract to before the explosion," I said. "It was somewhere in Manhattan. But there's no guarantee he hasn't already moved it."

"Whatever Loki is planning is big and it's going to happen soon," Steve reasoned. "I think it will still be somewhere in New York."

Dad, who had tuned out of the conversation and had been staring at the patch of blood on the wall, suddenly spoke again. "He made it personal."

"That's not the point," Steve replied.

"That is the point. That's Loki's point. He hit us all right where we live. Why?"

"To tear us apart," I reasoned.

"Yeah, divide and conquer is great, but he knows he has to take us out to win, right? That's what he wants. He wants to beat us, he wants to be seen doing it."

"He wants an audience," I said, catching on.

"Right, I caught his act in Stuttgart," Steve said.

"Yeah, that was just previews. This is opening night. And Loki, he's a full-tilt diva right? He wants flowers, he wants parades, he wants a monument built to the skies with his name plastered…."

Dad trailed off as all three of us realised who he'd also just described. We also instantaneously realised where Loki was going to initiate the last part of his plan.

"Son of a bitch."

* * *

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	14. Chapter 14

"Do you really think that's where Loki is going to be?" I asked dad.

We were currently in the engineering bay of the helicarrier, where we were both doing some last-minute fix ups of our suits. Being thrown around in the rotors had caused some minor damage to the relay sensors in my suit and dad had his own problems to fix in his.

"It has to be," he replied. "Loki has made this whole war personal. He knows all about us, he's done his research. He knows things about us that nobody else knows."

We had yet to talk again about the subject that had come up before the explosion. Yes, I was mad that dad had kept secrets about mum's death but after losing Coulson, it made it clear that any one of us could be gone in a second. I didn't want to be angry at him; he had thought that he was doing the best thing by me. We were about to fly into the unknown and it scared me to think about it but everyone may not make it back alive.

If I died, I would hate for dad to go on thinking for the rest of his life that I was still upset with him. And if, heaven forbid, he dies, I would forever be burdened with the knowledge that one of our last conversations was an argument. In case the worst happens, I needed to know that everything was alright between us.

"Dad, I don't know how Loki found out, but I'm glad he told me about mum. I needed to know. But I'm not angry at you for keeping it a secret. You did what you thought was best."

He stopped tinkering with the repulsor on his gauntlet to look me in the eyes. "I'm truly sorry Morgan. The…pain and anger that I felt when I found out…it was like losing her all over again. I didn't want you to have to feel that…so I hid it."

"I understand, and I'm not angry at you." I reached over the table to momentarily place my hand in his. "There's something I don't understand though; why would Obadiah kill mum? What did he gain from it?"

"After your mother had you, I decided that I was going to shut down Stark Industries."

My jaw practically fell to the floor when I heard those words. "What?! Why?"

Dad sighed. "I had enough money to last us a lifetime. I wanted to focus on my family, be there for the both of you. Obadiah knew if that happened he'd lose his job and a lot of money."

"So he somehow knew that killing mum would stop you from shutting down Stark Industries?"

"Yes. He knew me well enough to know that after losing your mum I would need something to focus on, something to keep me occupied. That was Stark Industries."

As much as I hated the thought, I had to ask it. "But why not just kill you before you could shut Stark Industries down? He was 2IC so with you gone he'd be in charge."

"Like he said when he was…" _killing me_ , I finished his sentence in my mind. "He knew that I had more ideas, more designs that could get him more profits. He hadn't been ready to kill me then."

As I thought about all of the pain and suffering that Obadiah had caused our family over the last 18 years, all I could say was one thing. "He got what he deserved." Sometimes I wished he hadn't died in the attack, so I could see the bastard rotting in a prison cell for the rest of his life. But I slept better at night knowing he was no longer in this world. No longer able to cause anybody else harm. And I hoped he was rotting in hell.

We lapsed into silence as we continued working on our suits. Dad had more damage done to his so I was finished long before him. I collapsed my suit back down into a portable briefcase. It was similar in design to dad's suit, the one that came in so handy at the Monaco Grand Prix when Ivan had attacked us.

As I looked over and watched dad intensely fixing the wiring in his boots, I was struck by an overwhelming sense of both sorrow and love. No matter our differences or the arguments, he was my father and he loved me with all of his heart. He had raised me alone and did everything in his power to make sure I was happy. He'd never missed a single birthday or Christmas, a dance recital or sports carnival. He had always been by my side.

A smile spread over my face as I remembered one of my favourite memories of him. It was my 5th birthday and I had requested a princess fairy theme for my party. The house had been decorated in pink streamers, pink glitter; and even the water in my 'mini waterfall' had been dyed pink. For any man that would have been enough, but dad had gone a step further.  
I had screamed with delight when I walked downstairs to see him standing there in a pink princess dress, complete with glitter fairy wings and 'diamond' tiara. It was a larger version of the costume I was wearing and I was so happy to be the same as my dad. I still have a photo framed of us standing side by side in our matching costumes.

I wish I could put into words just how much I loved him and appreciated everything he has ever done for me. When I tried to find the words, nothing seemed like enough. He had given me everything in life. 'Thank you' just didn't seem to convey just how much I appreciated and cherished him.

I just hoped he knew it in his heart.

"I'm going to go get ready and meet Natasha in the jet," I said.

"Wait, you're not going to fly in?" he asked. I was honestly surprised dad hadn't tried to convince me to stay in the hellicarier or just told me I wasn't allowed to go. Maybe he was finally learning to let go of his baby girl, or maybe he just realised that they needed all the help they could get, especially with Thor and Banner MIA.

"No, I don't think it's a good idea to split up so early. I'll have my suit on the jet ready to go, just in case."

"Ok." He put down his tools and walked over to where I stood. "I know you will be," he said as he placed his hands on my shoulder. "But please be careful. If anything happens to you…"

"I know," I said. "I will be." I stood up on my toes to reach his cheek, planting a kiss on it. "I love you dad. Thank you for everything."

I saw confusion flash in his eyes at my words and tone, but he still smiled. "I love you too."

With my briefcase in hand, I left the room but not before glancing over my shoulder to get one last glimpse of dad.

I know I was being stupid and irrational and foolish, but I needed to do this. I wasn't thinking about dad or Daniel, I was thinking about Coulson. Someone needed to avenge his death and I wanted it to be me. I wanted to see that stupid smug smile of his wiped off Loki's face as the light faded from his eyes. I didn't know what would kill him, or if it was even possible, but I would give it my best try. For Coulson.

As I walked into hanger B, I hurriedly looked around to check if Natasha or Steve had already arrived. Luckily there was no sign of them.  
After the attack on the helicarrier the agents that survived and were not too badly injured were either on the bridge, helping to keep the aircraft in the sky, or were frantically repairing the damage done to the ship. There had been minimal damage to this hanger so thankfully there were only a few agents down here and none of them even battered an eye at my presence.

I found a secluded corner and quickly activated my suit. As soon as I felt the last piece slip into place I walked over to the edge of the hanger and launched myself out. I used the thick clouds below the ship as coverage, hoping that was enough to cover my trail as I shot off across the sky.

"Jarvis, head a course to Stark tower."

"Yes Miss Stark," replied the familiar British AI.

A green line suddenly appeared on my heads-up display, indicating my flight path to Manhattan. A very small part of me was screaming at me to turn around, to wait for the rest of the group. I ignored it and flew onwards.

I needed to do this. Dad wouldn't understand but he should. He did the exact same thing when he first made the suit, flying off to Gulmira to rescue the village and confront the men of the Ten Rings. It was reckless and impulsive but he had his own reasons for needing to do it.

So do I.

Coulson was my friend and I wouldn't be able to sleep until I knew the man who killed him was dead or locked away forever. He deserved justice.

I flew as fast as the suit would go, afraid that at any second dad would pop up next to me and try to stop me from going after Loki. He hadn't even called yet so I assumed he believed my lie of going with Natasha and everyone in the jet. And Natasha would just assume that I was heading out with dad so no one would be looking for me.

As I watched the miles to Manhattan tick down on the heads-up display, my heart began pumping madly. In just a few minutes I would be at Stark Tower. Loki had to be there. Whatever was going to happen, Loki would want to be in the thick of it, not watching his handiwork from the sideline. He had to be there, he had to.

The clouds in front of me thinned and the island of Manhattan came into view. I flew high above the skyscrapers, looking down at the tiny dots which were the people on the streets far below. The millions of people in the city were all in danger and none of them had a clue. They were down there, walking around like it was any other day. By the end of today they could all be dead if we didn't stop Loki. Not to mention the rest of the world was in danger. He needs to be stopped and that was exactly was I was about to do.

Stark Tower loomed ahead. I spotted someone standing on the roof next to a large structure that had multiple wires attached to it. Within the structure was the Tesseract. My display screen zoomed in and I was momentarily disappointed to see it was not Loki standing on the roof, but Dr. Selvig. That disappointment quickly disappeared and was replaced with concern as I took in my colleague and friends appearance. In just a few days he had lost a significant amount of weight and the dark circles underneath his eyes only added to his gaunt appearance.

As much as I wanted to go and help him, I was here for someone else. Dad and the others would be here soon and would be able to free him from Loki's control and retrieve the Tesseract.

Loki, dressed in his green armour minus the horn helmet, was standing in the centre of the Stark Tower penthouse, gazing out through the floor to ceiling windows at the Manhattan skyscrapers in front of him. Clutched in his hand was his sceptre.

I didn't think it was possible but as I saw him standing there in that room, the rage I felt towards him grew. How dare he be in that room. It felt so wrong to see him standing where dad once stood. He had purposely invaded our personal lives, as if to say 'look what I can do and you can't stop me'.

As I made my descent onto the balcony outside the penthouse, I watched as his eyes tracked my movements. I could see the ghost of a smile already on his lips. I walked across the landing and entered the room. I kept my suit on. I wasn't stupid enough to think that I could take Loki on without it, not while he had that sceptre and his powers.

As soon as I stepped into the room Loki let out a little chuckle. "They sent the little girl to stop me?"

"Nobody sent me."

"So you think you can stop me all by yourself?"

Loki was still standing in the centre of the room and I slowly began making my way to him. "I'm gunna try because after what you've done you deserve to die."

We were now standing 4 meters apart. I wanted to close the distance and start hammering his face with my fists but I controlled myself and kept my position.

"You're going to kill me?" He chuckled again, as if he knew how much that sound angered me. "Do you know what it's like to take a life? To wrap your hands around their throat and watch as the light leaves their eyes? Do you-"

I raised both of my hands and sent out a blast from the repulsors. They hit Loki square in the chest and he was flown across the room, slamming into the wall hard enough to leave a dent. The sceptre went flying out of his hands and skidded across the floor.

"Shut up," I said.

The full force of the blasts would have been enough to kill a human but after a moment Loki struggled to his feet. Instead of being angry, he had that deranged smiled back on his face. "You would be nothing without that armour."

I shrugged. "Probably." I sent out another blast, knocking him back to the ground. As I made my way over to him I stopped to pick up his fallen sceptre. He stood up and backed up against the wall as he saw me standing in front of him. I had the tip of the sceptre positioned over his heart, ready to plunge it into his chest just as he had done to Coulson.

"Do it," he said. His black greasy hair was dangling in front of his eyes. The manic smile never left his face. "I want to see if you have it in you," he taunted.

As I stared into his eyes, I could see it. He was really asking me to do it. It wasn't a taunt, it wasn't a show. He wanted me to kill him.

And I wanted to. But as I looked into his face, all I could think of was Daniel. How would I tell him that I had killed someone? Even if the someone was a murderer and deserved it, would Daniel ever look at me the same if he knew what I did? Would he still want to marry me, spent his life with me, raise a child with me? Even if I didn't tell him, I would still know. It would feel like I was keeping something from him.

' _Once you kill someone, it changes you'_. Dad's words echoed through my head. I don't know if I was ready to change. In my rage I had been so convinced that I could do it but now, standing here in front of him, I wasn't so sure. Was I ready to be a killer?

The seconds ticked by and eventually I lowered the sceptre from his chest.

"I knew it," he sneered. "You couldn't do it. You're just as pathetic as your friend, Coulson. He couldn't stop me and neither can you."

As soon as I heard his name from his lips, the rage returned. I felt my body moving but it was like I had no control over it. My hand tightened around the sceptre. I raised it, the swirling blue mass of energy in the sceptre reflected in Loki's eyes. Without hesitation, I plunged the sceptre into Loki's chest.


	15. Chapter 15

Without hesitation, I plunged the scepter into Loki's chest.

His face turned from smugness to shock. I pulled the object from his chest and watched as blood seeped from the wound. He bent his head down to look at the stab wound, as if he needed to see it with his own eyes. His eyes travelled back up to meet my own. They dulled and lost their focus.

He suddenly crumpled into a heap on the floor at my feet. Blood continued to ooze from his chest, pooling onto the floor beneath him. Horrified at what I had done, I stumbled back and dropped the scepter. It clattered on the floor.

A million emotions were coursing through me as I looked down at his body. I felt relief that he was finally dead, proud that I had avenged Coulson, disgusted that I had ended a life, scared at what I would tell dad and Daniel.

I was still standing motionless, watching the pool of blood slowly get bigger when suddenly Loki's body disappeared. Everything of him was gone, including the blood.

"Son of a bitch," I growled as I realised what had happened.

"I have to say, I am surprised. I didn't think you had it in you." I spun around. There was Loki, alive, standing less than a meter from me. I had no idea if this was the real Loki or just another illusion. "Once I have you under my control, you will kill so many people you will lose count."

The scepter, which was still on the ground by my feet, suddenly flew into Loki's outstretched hand. Before I even had the chance to react, he thrust the scepter into the centre of my chest. At first I thought he was trying to kill me but I quickly realised what he was actually doing. He was disarming me.

The scepter easily pierced through the arc reactor in the suit. A normal blade wouldn't have been able to but there was nothing normal about the sceptre. The light in the arc reactor flickered before fading as it was destroyed. Without the arc reactor, there was nothing powering the suit and it began disassembling, falling off piece by piece. In just a few seconds I had gone from being enclosed within the suit to standing in a pile of suit pieces.

Loki thought I was now defenceless but I wouldn't be put under his control, not without a fight. I simultaneously stepped forward and slammed my foot down on top of his while thrusting the palm of my hand up at his nose. He stumbled back and I swiftly reached down to grab the vase on the coffee table, slamming it over his head.

I ran for the elevator. I'd barely taken two steps before I felt a blow hit me in the back. I tumbled face first to the ground. I hurried back onto my feet but another blow forced me back to the floor. I flipped over onto my back instead of trying to rise again. Loki, with his sceptre in hand, was stalking towards me.

"You humans never know when to give up."

I couldn't let him touch me with that sceptre. All I had to do was stall for a couple of minutes. Surely dad, Natasha and the rest of the crew were almost here? I hated having to play the damsel in distress card and wait for someone to come save me but I was in over my head here. It had been a bad decision to come here and take on Loki alone but I hadn't been thinking straight.

As Loki took another step forward he was now standing over me. I had to assume that even though he was an alien, he looked like a human and thus would also have a certain appendage that would cause a considerable amount of pain, and hopefully enough time to escape, if kicked.

Still on the floor, I raised my foot and sent it straight into his groin. I was expecting moaning, clutching, and falling to the floor in agony. Loki simply looked at me like I'd done something crazy.

"Really?!" I cried, exasperated.

Loki lowered his sceptre and I knew this was it, I'd run out of time. The sharp, glinting tip of the sceptre loomed over me but he was surprisingly gentle with it as he tapped it onto my chest. I watched a shard of blue energy travel down the sceptre and disappear into my chest.

It spread like fire through my veins but it felt like ice. I could feel it spreading through every inch of my body. I could instantly sense the moment it took over. Suddenly my body wasn't my own. I wanted to scream, I wanted to run but my body wasn't mine to control.

Loki stepped back, a triumphant glint in his eyes. I rose from the floor and stood before him, ready and waiting for his command. It was the most surreal and horrible feeling I'd ever experienced. I was aware of everything happening to me, my mind was still there, but I had no control. I couldn't believe Agent Barton and Dr. Selvig had spent days like this. It was awful. I wanted to cry but of course, I couldn't.

"This is going to be fun," Loki said.

* * *

Dad was on his way.

I still had my ear piece in, connecting me to the rest of the team. I could hear everything they were saying to one another, but I'd turned off my microphone before I'd left so they couldn't hear me.

"You guys work on getting the Tesseract back," dad said. "I'm going to find Loki." I could hear the wind rushing past him as he soared through the skies in his suit.

"Just be careful," was Natasha's reply. "We don't need anyone else under his spell." _Too late_ , I thought. I was suddenly so embarrassed. What was Natasha going to say when she saw her protégée had been foolish enough to be captured by Loki?

Over the sound of the wind, I could hear honking cars, sirens and bustling streets. The sounds of New York. Dad was close. I was so glad he was coming but I was scared of what Loki would make me do to him.

I unexpectedly remembered the words Loki had said to me back in the prison on the helicarrier. _"I'll make you kill every single person on your team, starting with your father. I'll have you wrap your hands around his throat and watch as the light fades from his eyes."_

Oh god. He's going to make me kill my own father.

"Jarvis, prepare Mark VII," I heard dad say.

"Sir, the Mark VII is not ready for deployment." Even in this dire situation, hearing the British AI was comforting.

"Then skip the spinning rims. We're on a clock." I wondered what the Mark VII was. Every time dad designed a new suit, it had a new feature. I wondered what this one would be.

The sounds of the suit powered down so he must have landed outside. I could hear the familiar noises of a suit being disassembled.

Being true to his drama queen nature, Loki had me stashed away in a dark room, ready to step out at a moments notice and reveal to dad that he had me under his control.

"Please tell me you're going to appeal to my humanity," Loki said. I could hear his voice through my earpiece and through the slightly ajar door I was hidden behind.

"Actually I'm planning to threaten you." Hearing his voice so close to me made me want to cry. Every fibre of me was trying to scream out to him.

"You should have left your armour on for that."

"Yeah. Seen a bit of mileage and you've got the glow stick of destiny. Do you like a drink?"

Loki chuckled. "Stalling me won't change anything. The Chitauri are coming. Nothing will change that. What have I to fear?"

"The Avengers," dad simply answered. "That's what we call ourselves, sort of like a team. Earths mightiest heroes type thing."

"Yes, I've met them."

"Yeah, takes us a while to get any traction I'll give you that one. But lets do a head count here. Your brother, the demigod; a super solider, living legend who kind of lives up to the legend; a man with breathtaking anger management issues; a couple of master assassins, and one fantastic S.H.I.E.L.D agent with a powered suit."

My heart soared when I heard him mention my name along with the others. He considered me part of the team, an Avenger.

"And you, big fella, you've managed to piss of every single one of them."

"That was the plan."

"Not a great plan. When they come, and they will, they'll come for you."

"I have an army."

"We have a Hulk.

"I thought the beast had wondered off."

"You're missing the point. There's no throne, there is no version of this where you come out on top. Maybe your army comes and maybe it's too much for us but its all on you, because if we can't protect the Earth you'll be damn well sure we'll avenge it."

"How will you and your friends have time to fight me, when you'll be too busy fighting her."

I felt my legs moving, walking me towards the door. Loki didn't even have to say a word, he was controlling me with his mind. As I stepped out into the room and watched dad's eyes glance over to meet mine, a vast array of emotions could be seen on his face.

First was confusion, wondering how I was here with Loki when I was supposed to be with Natasha. Second was anger, when he realised that I had lied to him to come here and confront Loki alone. Then came fear, as he took in my position standing next to Loki and the smirk on my face, and he understood that Loki was controlling me. And finally came rage.

"Let her go," he demanded, his voice shaking with anger.

"Oh I don't think so. You see, I made her some promises that I intent to keep. And the first one starts with you."

Without saying a word, I launched at him. He threw his hands up, in defence, not to attack me. A swift kick to his stomach caused him to double over in pain. His hands flew to his stomach so I used the opportunity to land a few punches across his face. His cheek split open and began to ooze blood, as did his lip.

While I continued to rain down blow and blow upon dad, Loki was watching us with a twisted smile on his face. Throughout the attack never did dad once raise his hands in anything other than defence. Even when his own daughter was trying to kill him he refused to lay a hand on me.

A roundhouse kick to the face sent him spinning to the floor. He got back to his feet and scurried behind the bar to put some distance between us.

"Morgan, I know you're still in there," he said breathlessly. He quickly used the edge of his sleeve to wipe the blood from his face. "You can fight it."

 _I'm trying_ , I screamed in my mind. I fought and fought against Loki's hold on me but it was useless.

"I don't want to fight it." I couldn't stop the words from coming out of my mouth. "For the first time in my life I finally feel free. I can do whatever I want!" I reached over the bar to grab a bottle of whisky which I then proceeded to throw at him. He ducked to the side and avoided the shattering glass. "I don't have to follow in the footsteps of my pathetic father."

"Morgan, listen to me. Fight it," he repeated.

 _I'm trying_.

I didn't want to do this. If I killed my father and somehow managed to get myself out of Loki's control, I would never, ever be able to forgive myself. It wouldn't matter that I was under someone else's control. All that would matter is that my hands ended his life.

"Fight it," he pleaded.

 _I'm trying_.

I could see Loki's reflection in the mirror behind the bar. The grin on his face spoke volumes, dad was wasting his time trying to save me.

"Fight it!"

" _I'm trying_!" I screamed.

I simultaneously watched dad smile with hope while Loki's eyes widened in shock. Obviously no one had ever managed to break his hold before, even just momentarily. My freedom was extremely short lived as I instantly felt Loki's power over me intensify a thousand times.

The smile dropped from dad's face as he watched me hurdle over the bar towards him. My hands were instantly at his throat. I squeezed as hard as I could. Even in his weakened state from the beating he had just taken, I'm sure dad still had enough strength left in him to stop me. But he wasn't even trying.

"Fight him…" he wheezed out. "You're…strong Morgan….I…know….you can….beat him."

His eyes were staring into my own, not breaking contact. Loki's will was urging me on, telling me to squeeze harder. My mind was telling my body not to but it wasn't listening to me. This was going to be it. Everything Loki had predicted was coming true.

I was going to kill my father.

My eyes flickered away from his briefly to the mirror behind the bar. I locked eyes with my own reflection. My eyes, normally a deep chestnut brown like my father's, were crystal blue, the same shade as the Tesseract. What shocked me more was the malice in them.

I looked at my reflection; two hands clutched around my father's throat, my eyes begging me to finish the job.

I couldn't do this. I had to be stronger than Loki. All this time he thought I was weak, pathetic. I had to prove him wrong. I wouldn't let him beat me, I wouldn't let him make me the daughter who killed her father. I had to fight.

My mind was screaming at my body to listen to me, ignore Loki's commands. The more I tried to fight it, the more my body felt like it was on fire. The pain was shooting through every inch of me. It was becoming so excruciating I wanted to stop fighting, just so the pain would stop. But I couldn't stop.

The pain was reaching an all time high but I felt my fingers loosen just a fraction. Dad's eyes were watering, his face turning a shade of red as he tried to suck in all the oxygen he could. My eyes connected with his again.

 _Do it_ , Loki's voice commanded in my mind.

"No!" I cried. I ripped my hands away from my father's throat. I was ashamed to see the red finger marks across his throat.

I staggered away from him, still in immense pain. The two sides of me, the one under Loki's control and the one I had control of, were fighting for dominance. It felt like they were tearing each other apart. I clutched the sides of my head as the agony of resisting Loki began to make my head feel like it was splitting in two.

I stumbled into the middle of the room before falling to my knees and screaming out in pain. A moment later I felt a warm hand on my back and my fathers concerned voice calling out my name.

Loki, who had been watching my struggle in shock, suddenly grimaced in anger.

My father, too preoccupied with making sure I was alright, failed to see Loki stalking towards him until it was too late. With one swoop Loki had placed one hand around dad's throat and lifted him off the ground. "She may be fighting for you, but once you're dead, she'll have nothing to fight for."

I watched, helpless, as Loki threw my father through the air, as if he weighed nothing. He slammed into the glass windows which shattered from the force. The high winds from outside blew into the room as I watched dad fall and disappear from view.

My heart fell. I wanted to cry but all I could do was continue to clutch my head and stare at the hole in the window my father had disappeared through. He was plummeting to his death right now. And Loki had been right, I had nothing to fight for now. The only reason I was still struggling against his control was so I could gain enough power back to make myself run and jump from the window, to follow dad.

I know Daniel would be devastated but I couldn't live in a world my father wasn't in.

A strange sound suddenly echoed through the room and I looked up in time to see a blur of red metal fly over my head and out through the broken window. Mark VII. I smiled through the pain. I had no idea how he was going to get the suit on when he was tumbling through the air but knowing dad, he would have found a way to make it possible.

I waited, staring at the broken window with baited breath. The seconds ticked by. I briefly wondered if the suit had been too late and he'd already fallen to his death when a familiar red and gold suit flew into view.

I had never felt more relieved or happy in my entire life.

Loki raised his sceptre but before he could even think about attacking dad, Iron Man shot him down with a blast from the repulsors.

With the suit back on dad was now connected again to the team. "Natasha, how did you free Barton from Loki?"

"Uh, cognitive recalibration," I heard Natasha reply through my earpiece.

"What?"

"I had to knock him out," she explained.

 _Oh great_ , I thought. This was going to be fun. Getting knocked out would hurt but surely it couldn't hurt anymore than the pain I was currently experiencing. I don't care if I had to get my arm chopped off, I'd do anything to be out from Loki's control.

Dad flew into the room and landed a few meters away. "Sorry Morgs," he said as he raised his arms. "But I guess this makes us even."

I looked up at him from my position on the floor. Seeing the repulsors aimed at me was chilling so I closed my eyes. The firing of the repulsors filled my ears, followed by a warm blast hitting my chest. I was thrown backwards, my head hitting the floor and then everything was gone.

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	16. Chapter 16

"Morgan, wake up….come on….wakey wakey….time to go fight some aliens."

I could hear dad's voice calling out to me but it sounded far away, like he was standing at the end of a tunnel. I wanted to tell him to piss off and let me sleep in a bit more but I couldn't make my mouth form the words.

It wasn't until my mind finally comprehended the last word that he said that I realised I needed to wake up. It took a couple of minutes but I finally got my eyes to flutter open. As the haze lifted I saw a battered and bruised dad, clad in his Iron Man suit, looking down at me. His faceplate was flipped open, giving me a good look at the cuts and bruises all over his face.

He looked relieved when he saw my eyes were finally open.

"You're not going to hit me again, are you?"

"What?" I croaked out. I had no idea where I was, what had happened and what dad was talking about. The last thing I remembered was…

"Oh shit," I cried out. I struggled to sit up. As I did, I looked around and realised where I was. I was in Stark Tower and judging by the broken glass, my disassembled suit and the droplets of blood on the floor, a fight had taken place here. My mind was trying to remember what had happened here. The last thing I can remember was flying to Stark Tower to confront Loki. Now I was waking up on the floor.

"He got me, didn't he?" I asked dad.

He nodded. "Yeah he did."

"I'm so sorry dad." He held out his hand which I accepted and he helped me to my feet. "I just wanted to get revenge for Coulson. I wasn't thinking properly."

"You're a Stark. Sometimes we do things in the heat of the moment without thinking. And then regret it later."

"I was so stupid to think I could take out Loki alone." I looked up at dad and again noticed the blood and bruises on his face. "Did Loki do that to you?"

He opened his mouth to answer but hesitated and averted his eyes. It took me a second to work out why he wasn't answering. "Oh God. I did that, didn't I?"

"You weren't yourself," he immediately said.

"I am so sorry. I can't believe I did that to you." It was one of the worst feelings in the world, looking at someone you love and knowing you've hurt them. Every cut, bruise, and drop of blood on his face was because of me. And because of Loki. "Wait, if Loki was here, where is he now?"

"He left the moment the portal was opened and his alien friends joined us."

"What?" It took me a moment to digest the words he said. It was then my attention was drawn past dad to the window. "Oh my God." I walked over to the windows, my mouth agape in shock. Flying through the sky were these…creatures.

The city was already being destroyed from their attacks. Smoke was billowing through the sky from cars alight in the streets below. The faint sounds of people screaming could just be heard over the noises of the Chitauri's attacks.

"We have to get out there now and stop them." It was only then that I remembered my only suit had been destroyed. I walked over the where the pieces of it lay in the floor. I picked up the chest piece. The arc reactor in the centre of it was smashed and beyond salvaging. Without the suit I was going to be useless against an army of flying aliens. "I'm useless without my suit."

"No, you're not," dad said. "Don't ever think like that. But you do have a suit."

"I don't-"

Dad walked over to a panel on the wall and placed his hand upon it. After a second, the wall panel slid to the side, revealing two suits standing side by side. One was dad's classic red and gold suit but it looked like it had been upgraded with more weapons. Standing next to it was a shorter, smaller suit. It was pure silver, with softer edges and more curves. It was obvious who it had been made for.

"Dad…" I said softly, speechless.

He placed his hand on my shoulder. "I always wanted you to be a part of my world," he said. "I just needed more time to get use to the thought."

"Thank you." I reached up onto my toes to plant a kiss on his cheek.

"Now suit up. We've got some alien ass to kick."

* * *

This didn't feel real. It felt like I was in a video game or a horror movie. How was this real?

I was standing on the balcony of Stark Tower, encased within my new suit, staring up at the sky in shock. The Tesseract on the roof of the tower was shooting a blue beam of energy straight up into the sky. At the end of the beam was a swirling black hole that alien after alien was pouring out of. They were soaring through the hole and into the Manhattan skyline on these little hovercraft ships.

My heads-up display zoomed in on them as they streamed through. They were horrifying creatures that looked like a hybrid of a man and a reptile. There was already too many of them for us to handle alone, and with each passing second more and more came through. I didn't know how we were going to stop them all but we had to at least try.

"Stay safe," dad said as he stood beside me. He'd configured my suit to automatically be connected to his own suit, as well as the S.H.I.E.L.D connection frequency, so I could hear that Natasha, Steve and Barton were in a helicarrier on their way. I hoped that Banner and Thor would make an appearance because we needed all the help that we could get.

"You too," I replied. Without hesitation we both shot off into the sky and immediately began attacking the Chitauri. I sent out blast and blast, reducing them to ash but for every one I killed, it felt like 10 more flew through the portal. There were just too many. They were slipping past us and flying through the Manhattan streets. I could hear the screams of people far below us as they tried to run from their attacks. I wondered if the sounds of their cries for help would forever be etched into my mind.

The overturned cars and burning fires could be seen even from up here. The people in the streets were scattering like ants, running into the nearest buildings for shelter from the attacks. Their sanctuary wouldn't last long though as more and more Chitauri were slipping through our defences and making it to the ground. Police cars were pulling up into the streets but the officers getting out of them were at a loss of what to do.

And that's when it finally, fully hit me. We were it. The only thing protecting this city…this world, was us. Two geniuses in flying suits, a frozen solider come back to life, a man who has an extreme alter ego, two special agents and a mythic god- that's if any of them actually showed up. Billions of people were relying on us. Who knows how many people would die if we failed. People below us were already dying. That thought alone was enough to bring tears to my eyes. But as heartless as it sounds, I had to stop thinking about them. We had a job to do and I had to be focused. I know we wouldn't be able to save everyone but we sure as hell were going to try.

The Chitauri were returning our fire with attacks of their own. I flew through the sky, ducking and dodging their blasts as I had no idea if the suit would be able to hold up against alien weapons. Just as that thought crossed my mind I was suddenly flung forward through the air. One of the creatures had fired off a shot which landed square in my back. I waited for the suit to begin malfunctioning or to start falling off piece by piece but nothing happened. Their attacks were useless while I was in the suit. That was great news for dad and I, but not everybody had a suit to protect themselves.

"Where is our back up?!" As far as I could see there was only 2 of us fighting against hundreds of aliens.

"Point Break is fighting Loki on the balcony," dad replied.

Sure enough when I looked down my heads up display zoomed in to show Thor and Loki battling it out on the balcony of Stark Tower. It was hard to tell who was winning.

"We're almost there," Natasha chimed in.

"I'll line them up down Park Avenue. Be ready to take them out." Dad shot off and a large group of Chitauri took off after him. I stayed in the sky above Stark Tower, trying to take out as many of them coming through the portal as I could.

A photo of Daniel's face suddenly popped up across half of my screen as he tried calling me. That's when it hit me that footage of this attack would be showing on every news channel across the world. No doubt Daniel was at work, watching me sail through the sky in my suit fighting aliens. He was probably calling to tell me to be careful and that he loves me. Hearing his voice right now is a distraction that I could not afford.

"Jarvis, decline call."

I continued to take out alien after alien but it didn't matter how many or how fast I killed them, there was always going to be another one coming through the portal. Who knows how many were ready and waiting in space to come through. Thousands? Millions?

I decided instead of trying to stem the flow as it came through, I had to try and cut the source off completely. I flew down and landed on the roof of the tower. The Tesseract was encased in a large device that was concentrating its energy into the portal shooting up into the sky. I raised my arm, ready to fire at the device, when Jarvis's voice stopped me.

"Mr Stark has already tried to destroy the device. There is a barrier around the device which is pure energy, it is unbreachable."

"Great," I said exasperatedly. I wasn't just going to give up though. There has to be a way to close the portal. And the best person to ask would be the person who built the device.

"Dr Selvig!" I shouted. He had been on the roof when I had first arrived. Surely he would still be here, there weren't a lot of places to go from here. That's when I spotted his prostrate form on the other side of the roof.

"Selvig!" I rushed over to him, rolling his body over onto his back. "Jarvis, scan for signs of life."

Only a few seconds had passed before the scan was complete and the British AI answered. "Dr Selvig is alive but is suffering from a concussion, 2 fractured ribs, a hairline fracture of the wrist and cheekbone, and he is severely malnourished and dehydrated." Alive was all that I heard of the sentence.

"Selvig, please wake up. I need your help." I roughly shook his shoulders, hoping the movement would rouse him.

I was momentarily distracted as 2 Chitauri landed on the roof to attack us. A couple of shots from the suit made quick work of them and when I turned around to check on Selvig I was met with 2 blue eyes staring up at me.

"Thank God." I flipped open my face plate to show him who was in the suit. "Selvig, are you alright?"

"Morgan." The relief was evident in his voice. "What happened?"

"There's no time to explain that all now. We have to close the portal." It was only then he seemed to really wake up and realise everything that was going on around him. His wide eyes took in the energy being blasted into the sky, the portal at the end of it and the aliens streaming through it.

"My God. What have I done?" he asked, horrified.

"It's not your fault. You weren't yourself. Trust me, I know."

He stumbled to his feet and went over to inspect the device he had created.

"Don't get too close," I warned. "There's a pure energy barrier around it. I can't blast through. Can you remember anything about creating it? Is there a way we can close the portal?"

"I can't remember but there has to be a way." While he started typing away on a computer connected to the device, I stood guard destroying any Chitauri that came our way. Standing directly below the portal, I could see the stars in space shining brightly. God only knows where in the galaxy this portal was opening from.

After a few minutes clicking away on the keyboard, Selvig spoke. "I built in a safety to cut the power source." My body flooded with relief. It seemed like Loki didn't have complete control over Selvig the whole time he was with him.

"What do we have to do?"

"The Tesseract can't fight…can't protect against itself," he said.

"Loki's sceptre," I said as I caught his train of thinking.

"It may be the only way to close down the portal."

I instantly ran over to the edge of the roof. The balcony below was now empty. It showed evidence of a fight, with smashed glass panelling littering the ground, but Thor and Loki were nowhere to be seen. And neither was the sceptre.

"Damn it," I exclaimed. "Jarvis, make sure I'm broadcasting to the whole team. Selvig may have found a way to close the portal but we need Loki's sceptre. Anyone got him?"

"We've been grounded," Natasha said. With the helicarrier out of commission, that meant it was only myself, dad and Thor up in the skies. At least Natasha, Barton and Steve could focus on helping people on the ground.

"We need that sceptre." My eye flittered up to the portal just in time to see something different, something new coming through. "And we need it now." A gargantuan beast was flying through the air. It had to be at least the length of a football field. Like the Chitauri, it had a reptilian, almost snake like appearance but was moving through the sky the way a whale would swim through the sea.

"Ah…Starks, are you seeing this?" a stunned Captain America asked.

"Seeing. Still working on believing," dad replied.

As the creature sailed through the skies some Chitauri started repelling off of it and landing on buildings.

"Dad, you focus on…that. I'll look for Loki." I saw dad shoot off after the thing and heard him asking Jarvis to scan it for any weak spots. I tried to put the creature out of my mind and search for Loki. Dad could handle it and the sooner I found the sceptre the sooner this would all be over.

Like I had hypothesised when I had been on my way to find Loki the first time, he had to be close to the action. Even after getting a beating from his brother, there was no way he'd just get up and leave and wait for it all to be over. It only took a minute of flying through the skies, destroying any Chitauri that I passed along the way, before I found him. He was flying around on one of the alien hovercraft things. The sceptre was grasped tightly in his hands. My heads-up display zoomed in on him, and even though he was over a mile away from me, he turned his head, locked eyes with me and smiled.

It infuriated me greatly that I had no idea what I had done while under his control. And it scared me. The truth was I didn't want to go anywhere near him, or that sceptre, ever again but when billions of people's lives were at stake, my fear of him didn't mean a thing.

I shot off after him. I had one advantage over him this time; he didn't know it was the sceptre I was after. He just thought I was trying to take him down again. All I needed was for the sceptre to just slip from his hand and then this could all end.

I fired shots off at him, which he returned with blasts from the sceptre. I ducked and dodged through the air, avoiding the fire. Loki must be connected to the Chitauri, or they were just insanely loyal to him, because within moments of my attacking him, a swarm of aliens descended upon me. I tried to counter each of their blasts with one of my own but there were too many of them. I was literally surrounded, they were blocking every possible escape route. Loki and the sceptre had long disappeared from view. Blow after blow rained down upon me but thankfully the suit was holding up against their attacks pretty well. They seemed to realise this because they stopped their firing and began physically attacking the suit. I felt one jump onto my back, causing me to drop 10 feet in the air before I could counter balance the weight. His hands were clawing at my suit, trying to tear it to pieces. Another one latched onto me from the front. I felt two more hanging off of my boots, causing me to again drop in height. I didn't know if their attack would be successful and I wasn't going to wait to find out.

Just as I opened my mouth to ask dad for a little assistance, I heard a loud, resounding crack echo through the air. It was swiftly followed by a shot of blinding lightening that struck every Chitauri within a 30 foot radius. Their bodies glowed as the electricity coursed through them. They began to drop like flies.

I looked around for my saviour and found him standing atop a nearby building, hammer in hand. "Thanks."

"Don't mention it," Thor replied before swinging his hammer and shooting off into the sky.

I'd lost sight of Loki but it wouldn't take long to find him again. I was just about to shoot off through the air when I heard an unmistakeable roar that seemed to reverberate throughout the entire island of Manhattan. It could only mean one thing; the Hulk had arrived. Thank god. Surely with his strength, stamina and anger, we'd finally start making a dent in the Chitauri numbers.

As the sound of his roar died out, it was replaced with another sound; a gut wrenching scream from the street below.

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	17. Chapter 17

"Help! Somebody please help us!"

I couldn't just ignore them and fly away. The sceptre would have to wait.

I flew down to the street below and located the source of the noise. A mother and her young daughter were being cornered in the street by a group of Chitauri. They were seconds away from being fired upon. The young girl, being held in her mothers arms, was screaming as she buried her face into her mothers chest.

I wasted no time in attacking the Chitauri. After the first few blasts the aliens quickly switched their focus from the mother to myself, giving her a chance to slip by and run for safety. It took longer that I would have liked but after a few minutes they were all in pieces on the ground.

I took a moment before launching into the sky again to take a breath and look around. It took a minute before I could register all of the destruction I was seeing and remember this was taking place in New York City. It looked like scenes straight from a war zone, the kind of stuff you'd see in movies or on the news. Cars were overturned and on fire, the sides of buildings were destroyed and the rubble was littering the streets, people were running and screaming through the streets as they tried to find some cover from the attacks. It would take years for New York to recover from this. And with each passing moment it was only getting worse and worse.

I decided instead of going looking for Loki again, I'd look for the sceptre. "Jarvis, can you please scan the area for any energy signatures similar to the Tesseract?" The blue ball of energy in the sceptre had to be almost identical to the Tesseract's energy which should make it easy enough to track.

"There is a similar energy signal being emitted from the penthouse of the Stark Tower."

The penthouse; back to where it started. But I wasn't going to make the same mistakes this time. I'd get in, find the sceptre and get out straight away. I took off for the penthouse. It angered me that Loki was back there, hiding away, waiting for the battle to be over. He's a coward.

I flew straight into the penthouse through a shattered glass window to a sight that was unexpected, terrifying and somewhat hilarious. The Hulk was standing in the middle of the room, holding Loki by his legs and tossing him around like he was a ragdoll. The force of his blows would have broken every bone in a human's body, not to mention they'd be dead in a second. With one last cry of strength, the Hulk threw him onto the ground, hard enough for it to make a Loki sized dent in the floor. The God let out a moan of pain but made no move to get up off the ground.

That's when the Hulk spun around to see me standing in the room. My heart was pounding madly and fear was running through my veins. This was the first time I'd seen him with my own eyes. He was green, massive and frightening. I could see features of Bruce Banner in his face but I had to remind myself it wasn't him. This was someone…something entirely different.

I slowly reached up to flip my faceplate open to show him who it was. I had no idea if the Hulk retained any of Bruce's knowledge; if he would recognise and know who I was. I thought I saw something flicker in his eyes but it vanished seconds later and I had no idea if I'd just imagined things.

We were standing across the room from each other, staring at the other. I was waiting for him to attack when his attention was suddenly caught by a passing alien hovercraft outside the window. With a deafening roar, he ran and leapt out of the window without hesitation.

I let out the breath I had been holding and waited for my heartbeat to slow. Across the room the bright blue light of the sceptre caught my eye. As I walked over and picked it up, Loki had no move to stop me. He was still lying prone on the ground.

I glanced down at the sceptre in my hand, suddenly having a flash of a memory hitting me. Loki standing above me, pointing the sceptre at my chest, the feeling of ice as its power spread through me, taking control. I looked over at Loki and realised I could do it for real this time; I could plunge the sceptre into his chest and kill him. He was just lying there. It would be easy.

But I'd made my decision. I wouldn't let Loki turn me into a killer. Besides, death was too nice for him. He deserved to live, to suffer.

With the sceptre in hand I flew out and up to the roof. I was surprised to see Selvig wasn't alone. Natasha had somehow managed to get up onto the roof and was defending them both from any Chitauri that tried to attack them.

"You found it," Selvig said, stunned. He rushed over to the computer and began clicking away.

"Here," I said as I passed the sceptre to Natasha. "Shut the damn thing down."

"Where are you going?" she asked.

"I'm going to go help take out whatever Chitauri are still left."

I left the roof and immediately flew down to the streets below. Aside from a few Chitauri, they were surprisingly empty. The streets still looked like a war zone but there were no longer screaming people fleeing attacks. By now most people had found somewhere safe to hide.

"We're closing the portal," Natasha's voice announced.

"Wait!" Dad suddenly called out. "I got a nuke coming in. It's gonna blow in less than a minute. And I know just where to put it."

"What?!" I cried out. "Dad don't be stupid."

"I have to do this Morgan. Or this missile will destroy all of Manhattan."

"Dad if you go up there, you wont come back."

"She's right Stark. That's a one way trip," Steve added.

"Once it's gone you close the portal immediately Romanoff," dad said.

"NO! You can't do this!" I shot up into the air and scanned the skies for dad. I quickly spotted him heading for the city, with a large missile perched on his back. "Why does it have to be you? Why is it always you?"

"We'll all be dead if I don't do this. I'm so proud of you Morgs. You're the best thing that ever happened to me."

"Don't talk like that! You're not doing this." Theoretically I knew it was the right thing to do; the needs of the many outweighed the needs of the few, but when it was my dad's life on the line it was harder to accept. "I've lost you once, I'm not going to lose you again."

He was flying over the city now, directing the missile up towards the portal. I flew after him, pushing my suit to the limit to reach him in time. This wasn't how things were going to end.

I watched him glance over his shoulder to see me chasing after him. He knew what I was trying to do; to take his place. Dad had sacrificed so much already and I didn't want him to make the ultimate sacrifice. But he had other plans.

"Jarvis, suspend Morgan's suit for one minute."

"What?" I asked confused. What was he talking about? I got my answer a second later as my suit stopped flying forward. It left me hovering in the air, unable to move in any direction. "What are you doing? Jarvis, stop this."

"I cannot Miss Stark."

When building this suit for me dad had obviously put in an override so he could have some control over my suit, for occasions just like this. A small timer appeared in the corner of my screen, ticking down from a minute.

"I'm sorry Morgan. I love you so much." I was forced to watch my dad heading for the portal, being absolutely unable to do anything. I was paralysed again, just like with Obadiah. I couldn't save my dad, again.

"Please dad," I begged, tears streaming down my face. "Please!"

"I love you" I held my breath as he shot straight up into the air towards the portal. One second he was there, the next he'd disappeared as he went through. "I love…..you….lo-" the connection buzzed before cutting off completely.

"I love you! I love you!" I screamed, hoping he could still hear me.

I hovered in the air, still suspended in the suit with no control of it, watching the portal intensely. Any second he would come back through, I know it. This was dad, if anyone could do it, it would be him. He wouldn't leave me here. The seconds ticked by. Nothing was coming through the portal.

I don't know what was happening on the other side of the portal but something must have happened because suddenly every Chitauri collapsed. It was like the switch controlling them had been flicked to the off position. They were just falling where they stood. Even the large flying creature in the sky abruptly flopped onto his back ontop of a Manhattan skyscraper.

They were all dead. The war was over. But right now, I didn't care. All I cared about was my father flying back through that portal.

Steve suddenly spoke. "Close it."

"NO! NO!" I shrieked.

"I'm sorry Morgan," Natasha said. The blue energy shooting up towards the portal suddenly dissipated as she plunged the sceptre into the machine controlling the Tesseract's energy. The large swirling portal in the sky rapidly began decreasing in size. With every second that passed it was shrinking, soon to be closed forever. The idea of my dad's body forever floating in space, alone, was unbearable.

"Come on dad…" I mumbled, my eyes fixed on the closing portal. "Please." It was almost closed and I'd all but given up hope for a miracle. Then, just seconds before the portal disappeared into nothing, something slipped through. My screen immediately zoomed in on the falling object.

It was dad. "YES!" I shrieked. He did it.

"Son of a gun," I heard Steve mumble.

My relief was short lived as I watched my father's body tumbling through the air as he continued to freefall. He wasn't stopping, which either meant he was unconscious or….

I needed to catch him but my suit was still suspended. The timer in the corner showed 15 seconds left. By the time it was down to zero my father would be a pancake on the street below. "I swear to God Jarvis if you don't unsuspend this suit I'll-"

A green blur jumped through the air and caught him. The Hulk had a tight grasp on him as they went crashing to the ground.

"Come on, come on," I mumbled as I watched the timer count down, every second going excruciating slow. As soon as this was over, the first thing I was going to get dad to do was to get rid of this override control. As soon as the timer ticked over to zero I shot down to the street below.

Thor, The Hulk and Captain America were all standing around Iron Man. He was lying on his back in his armour but his faceplate had been ripped off. His eyes were closed and his face relaxed.

"Dad." I fell onto my knees beside him and pulled my helmet off, tossing it to the ground. "Dad!"

I gripped his shoulders and shook him, praying the movement would somehow jerk him awake. "Come on, you can't do this!" As I watched, waiting for his eyes to open, I wondered how many more times was I going to go through the torture of wondering if my dad was dead or alive. I spent months wondering that after he was captured in Afghanistan. I thought he was finally done for when I saw Obadiah pulling the arc reactor from his chest and leaving him to die. When Ivan Vanko went after him, first in Monaco and then at the Expo, I thought I'd never see him alive again.

He'd been so close to death so many times. Was this finally it? Had he not escaped the clutches of the reaper this time?

I refused to believe it. My dad was fucking Iron Man. He was a hero and a fighter. And I knew he wouldn't leave me, not without a fight.

"Dad. Please. Wake up."

I could feel the eyes on Steve, Thor and the Hulk on me. I could sense the pity in their gazes.

"Morgan…" Steve bent down to place a hand on my shoulder. The moment he touched me the tears began streaming down my face.

 _He doesn't care that he's dead_. It was a selfish and untrue thought but in that moment I needed someone to be angry at. And I couldn't be angry at dad, not after he'd just saved millions of lives.  
Someone at S.H.I.E.L.D had made the decision to fire that nuke. I understand the fear watching the battle playing out on TV must have caused, but how could they have been okay with the fact that they would have murdered millions of people? How could I work for an organisation that would do that? They should have had more faith in us. We stopped Loki and his army but now my father was dead because of S.H.I.E.L.D.

I almost jumped out of my skin when the relatively silent street was disrupted by a thunderous roar from The Hulk. I could feel the sound reverberate through my own body and, even as the Hulk, you could hear the pain that Banner must have been feeling. It was somehow comforting, in a weird and terrible way, to know that I wasn't the only one hurting.

Without warning, Dad's eyes flew open and he gasped for air. I cried out, from shock and happiness, and bent down to hug him. "Dad!"

"What happened?" he asked as he looked around at everyone staring at him.

"We won. You saved everyone," I replied. I still had tears in my eyes but now they were from joy. "And if you ever do anything like that again I'm going to kill you myself."

He let out a chuckle as he struggled to sit up in the suit. "I'm serious Dad. You freaking scared me to death. You can't keep doing this to me."

"I'm sorry Morgan but I had to."

"Why do you always have to be the one to sacrifice themselves?"

"Well I sure wasn't going to let you do it."

"You can't-"

"Can we finish this another time?" Steve suddenly said. "There's still something left we have to do."

In my relief at dad being alive, I'd forgotten that Loki was still yet to be captured. I wondered just what the hell we were going to do with him when we got him. Maybe there was a jail cell on Asgard that could hold someone with his powers?

"Last time I saw him, he was getting his ass beat by the Hulk up in the penthouse," I said. The Hulk puffed out his chest and smirked.

"Then lets go get him," Steve replied.

Thor grabbed onto Steve before swinging his hammer around that suddenly lifted him off the ground and shooting up towards Stark Tower. The Hulk let out another roar and started scaling the sides of buildings. Dad got to his feet to follow them.

"Are you coming up?"

"I'll be there in a second. I just want to call Daniel first. I'm sure he saw everything and is worried."

"Okay." Dad took off to join them in the tower. I did want to call Daniel and tell him I was alright, but I also didn't want to see Loki again; even if it was seeing him get captured. I'd had enough of that alien and if I ever saw him again it would be too soon.

Just as I was about to call Daniel I remembered he'd called and left a message during the battle. That also reminded me that he'd left a message earlier in the day that I'd forgotten to check before leaving the helicarrier.

"Jarvis, please play my messages from Daniel."

The earlier message played first. "Hey fiancé. I love that I get to call you that now. Just calling to check in and see how you're going. Also letting you know it turns out I can go to the conference in New York. I'm just about to get onto the plane now. Talk to you soon. Love you."

No. No no no no no no. I prayed that the next message he left was him saying his trip had been cancelled again and he was still in LA.

"Morgan!" My worst fears were confirmed as the second message played and I could immediately hear the sounds of a battle raging on in the background. "I'm in New York. I don't know what the hell these things are but please be safe. I can see you now above the tower." The sound of an explosion muffled his voice for a moment. "I'm trying to get people off the streets. I know you'll save us all. I love you so much." The line went dead.

This could not be happening. How could I have not known that my own fiancé was down in the streets below me while I'd been fighting the Chitauri? I thought he'd been hundreds of miles away back in California when he'd really been hundreds of meters away. He'd be okay though. He had to be.

"Call Daniel."

Jarvis immediately began dialling his number. With every passing ring my heart grew heavier. I tried to not panic. There were a million reasons why he wouldn't be answering his phone. Maybe he lost it in the streets while rescuing people? Maybe it's run out of battery? I wouldn't jump to the worse conclusion.

"Can you please track his cell phone?"

Within seconds Jarvis had pulled up a map of the New York streets and pinpointed the location of his phone. It was only 2 blocks away. I took off like a shot.

 _He'll be fine. He'll be fine. He'll be fine_.

This is not how our story would end. I'll find him, he'll be okay, we can go back to California and start planning our wedding. Once we're married we'll start thinking about having kids, 2 or maybe 3. Grandpa Tony will teach them how to fix cars just like he taught me. Daniel and I will grow old together. It can't go any other way.

I landed in the middle of the street that Jarvis had tracked his phone to. Like almost all of the streets in Manhattan, it bore the signs of a war having taken place. Cars in the middle of the street, which had been abandoned by their drivers, were crushed beneath the rubble of damaged buildings. Broken glass and concrete littered the street. The bodies of a few Chitari were lying prone on the ground. A car at the end of the block was on fire. I could see some curious faces peeking out through the windows of the buildings on the street. People could no longer hear the sounds of a battle raging on and they were slowly going to begin emerging from their hiding spots.

Right now on the street, there were no signs of life.

"Call his phone again."

One moment later the sound of a phone ringing echoed through the street. I ran towards the sound. Halfway down the street, there it was; his phone, with a picture of my face on the screen, was lying on the ground. I picked it up and cancelled the call.

He must have just dropped it in his hurry to get to safety. He must be hiding in one of the nearby buildings. I glanced up and down the street at the numerous buildings, wondering which one he could be in. My blood felt like ice in my veins when I looked back down the street again and realised one of the bodies wasn't the Chitari.

It felt horrible to wish that someone else had died but as I slowly walked towards the body, most of it hidden from view behind a large block of concrete, I realised that's what I was doing. Wishing that the body was someone else.

My nightmare came to life when I walked around the block of concrete and saw a familiar face. Daniel.

"NO!"

I dropped to my knees beside him. He was lying on his back, his eyes gazing up at the sky. He was covered in ash and dirt from the battle. There was a cut on his forehead which had oozed some blood and numerous small cuts and bruises over his arms.

 _This isn't happening. This isn't happening._

It felt like a dream, or more accurately, a nightmare. It felt like I was watching somebody else's life unfold. This wouldn't happen to me, it couldn't. We had plans.

"Jarvis, scan for signs of life." I didn't need the British AI to tell me what I already knew. But I wouldn't believe it until I heard the words.

"There are no signs of life Miss Stark. He has passed."

 _He has passed._

"NO!"

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	18. Chapter 18

"There are no signs of life Miss Stark. He has passed."

 _He has passed._

"NO!"

The floodgates opened and the scream ripped out of me. I ripped my helmet from my head and tossed it aside.

"No! No! No!" I couldn't think of anything else to say. No. It had to be a mistake.

I leant over his body and placed my head on his chest, as I had done so many nights when we were watching TV on the couch. Hearing the steady beat of his heat had often lulled me into sleep. This time, there was nothing. No heartbeat, no rise and fall of his chest.

"Nonononono…" My tears flowed freely, quickly making the front of his shirt wet. "Please God no!"

I lifted him so his head was in my lap. I sat there, stroking his hair and watching my tears dripping down onto his face. His blue eyes were open, staring up at me but not seeing. "Daniel!" I screamed. "please…."

This wasn't reality. This wasn't happening. I half expected Daniel to suddenly blink, smile and wipe my tears away. He couldn't be gone.

There had be some way to stop this. We just learnt that aliens were real. Surely that meant time travel was possible, right? There had to be a way to go back in time, to stop this from happening. I had to stop this from happening. Because if this was real life, I would never be able to forgive myself for flying around the city while my fiancé was dying below.

If I had only taken his calls earlier. Stopped him from getting on the plane. Realised that he was here and found a safe place for him to hide. His death was my fault. And I would have to live with that guilt forever.

Jarvis must have told dad something was wrong because suddenly there he was. He landed behind us and took in the scene. His daughter, cradling her dead fiancé as she bellowed and pleaded for him to come back. I'm sure behind his helmet he was crying tears of his own.

"Morgan, we have to go," he said as he knelt down beside me. As I looked up I realised I was no longer alone in the street. People had started to exit from the buildings. Many of them had stopped to watch, expressions of sorrow on their faces.

"I'm not leaving him alone," I croaked.

"I'll stay with him. I'll take care of him," he promised.

After a moment, I nodded. All of the adrenaline from the battle had left my body, being replaced with grief and exhaustion. I wanted to collapse right there on the street and sleep for a thousand years. And maybe never wake up.

I bent down and kissed his lips. They were already cold. "I love you," I whispered to him.

Slowly, I stood up. Dad placed my helmet back on and instructed Jarvis to fly me back to Stark Tower. My suit took off, on auto-pilot, taking me back to the tower. I had a birds eye view of all of the damage the battle had caused but I suddenly didn't care about it anymore. I was numb. Nothing mattered. The suit landed me on the platform outside of the penthouse and a machine immediately rose from it and began disassembling my suit. I took slow, small steps inside. I didn't know what to do with myself. What are you suppose to do after the love of your life dies?

The rest of the Avengers must have already captured Loki and taken him away because the only person left in the room was Natasha. Dad had obviously already relayed to her what had happened as she enveloped me in a hug and said she was so sorry for my loss. I was glad she was the only one here. I would have hated to see the looks of pity and sadness on everyone's faces as they tried to comfort the girl who had just lost her fiancé.

The penthouse was a mess. There was the dent in the floor left from Hulk throwing Loki around, some glass and blood on the ground, and two of the floor to ceiling glass windows were gone. I briefly thought about hurling myself through one of the windows. Even if I really wanted to go through with it, I barely had to energy to even walk to the window. Was that why Natasha was still here? Was dad afraid for me to be alone? If anyone understood what I was going through right now, it was him. He had told me after mum died, I was the only reason he tried to continue on with his life.

I didn't have a daughter or a son to live for. My great life plan disappeared the moment Daniel took his last breath. No marriage, no kids, no growing old together.

"You need some rest," Natasha said. She guided me into one of the bedrooms and helped me slip out of my catsuit into some pyjamas. "If you need anything, I'll be right outside."

I just nodded to her as I crawled into the bed. She left the room but made sure to keep the door ajar.

I was exhausted but sleep evaded me. I laid on my back, starring at the ceiling, feeling the tears steadily sliding down my face. How could this be happening to me? How could I have lost 2 important people in my life in the same day?

I had thought it couldn't get any worse when Coulson had died. The universe had proved me wrong. Hadn't I suffered enough? Hadn't I already lost enough people in my life? If there was a God, he was a cruel bastard for making my life turn out this way.

The same thought kept running through my mind. How did this happen? So many different circumstances had let to this outcome and it killed me to know if one little thing had changed, Daniel could still be with me. If Loki had chosen a different city for the battle, he would still be here. If the hospital hadn't let him go to the conference, he would still be here. If I had just answered his calls instead of ignoring them, he would still be here.

That last one haunted me. I played a part in his death, because if I had just spoken to him, I would have told him not to go to New York. He wasn't even supposed to be there. My mind began imagining him still safe and sound back in California. I would get home and he would greet me at the door with a kiss.

My imaginary scene was interrupted when dad arrived back at the tower. I heard just hear him talking with Natasha through the slightly open door. I heard the word morgue.

Now all I could imagine was my beautiful, smart, kind, loving partner alone in a morgue somewhere, cold and blue, lying in a draw. His life had barely begun. There was so much more he wanted to do, to accomplish. Now he would never get the chance. It just wasn't fair.

I heard dad approaching the room so I quickly shut my eyes and pretended to be asleep. The door creaked slightly as he stuck his head in the room. I could feel his eyes linger on me for a moment before he left. Again, the door was left ajar.

After what felt like hours, sleep finally came. The dream started out horrible; I was reliving the battle that had just taken place. The sounds of people screaming echoed through my head. But they faded away as the battle was won and as I flew back to Stark Tower, there was Daniel waiting for me. He got down on one knee and presented the engagement ring he had designed for me. Suddenly we were back home in California, in our house. We were lying on the couch together, eating pizza and flipping through the channels as we decided what to watch. It was perfect.

* * *

The next few days were a blur and some of the worst days of my life. I called Daniel's father and managed to tell him through my tears what had happened. Dad had volunteered to call him but I knew I had to be the one to do it. It was horrible listening to a father cry as he realized he'd lost his only son. We only spoke for a few minutes as he then had to call his daughter and let her know that her big brother was gone.

I wasn't ready to go home to California yet so dad and I stayed at Stark Tower. On the days that I managed to get out of bed, dad and Pepper (who had arrived the day after the battle) did their best to distract me. But I spent most of my time in bed, hoping to fall back asleep so I could go back to the land where Daniel was still alive.

The Tesseract and the sceptre had been taken into S.H.I.E.L.D custody. Right now I couldn't care less what they were going to do with it. It didn't matter. After some debate with S.H.I.E.L.D, Thor had been able to take Loki back to Asgard to be punished. There would be no jail cell on Earth capable of holding Loki.

The city of New York had already begun the long process of repairing the damage done to the city. But nothing could repair the damage done to the people who had lost someone. The Battle of New York, as people were calling it, was all anyone across the world was talking about. And I had unknowingly become the face of it. 2 days after the battle I had walked into the kitchen to hear Dad and Pepper arguing about whether to tell me something. They had jumped out of their skins when I had walked in and asked them what they were talking about. Dad then reluctantly handed over the New York Times newspaper.

I was on the front page. Someone had taken a picture of me on the street while I had been cradling Daniel's body. My suit helmet was at my feet while Daniel was in my lap. My face was scrunched up in despair while tears flowed down my cheeks. The headline simply stated " _Death toll climbs after Battle of New York._ "

At first, I didn't know how to deal with it. Someone had captured the moment I found out my partner was dead and sold it to magazines and newspapers across the country. The Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, USA Today, Times magazine, every major newspaper and magazine across the US had this picture as their frontpage. When I went online I found it was everywhere. People were posting it, sharing it. And when I read the comments I finally understood why.

People were grieving with me. Everyone who had lost someone in the battle could understand exactly what I was feeling in that picture. Anyone who had ever lost anyone in a tragic circumstance could. So many people were writing condolence messages, along with thank you messages. I had helped saved the city but I had lost someone in the battle. While it was hard for me to look at the picture, I think everyone else needed to see it.

Not only was I, and everyone else, dealing with the fallout of the battle, we were all trying to come to grips with the fact that our world had changed forever. Our world had been invaded by aliens. Actual 'from outer space, seen only before in the movies and tv shows' aliens. While I and so many others had believed we couldn't be alone in the universe, believing it, knowing it and seeing it were very different things. How many alien species were out there? Hundreds? Thousands? Some of them may be nice but as we had clearly seen, some of them were not. What was to stop another alien species from trying to invade Earth one day? We were incredibly vulnerable and now we knew it.

I had so much going on in my mind but the person I needed to talk to about it all was gone. I needed my best friend to help me get through the death of my mentor, Coulson. I needed my best friend to help me come to terms with the fact that we are not alone in the universe. I needed my best friend to help me get through the death of my best friend. I still couldn't believe he wasn't here anymore.

A week after the battle, I decided it was time to go back to California. I couldn't yet bring myself to go back to the home I shared with Daniel, so I returned to the mansion with Dad and Pepper. I could tell dad like having me home again, just not under these circumstances.

Soon came the day I had been dreading; Daniel's funeral. As I stood in my childhood bedroom, staring at my black dress in the mirror, I couldn't believe this was happening. I wasn't even in my 20's yet I had already met and lost the love of my life. Not to mention I'd lost my mother, a mentor and almost lost my father on multiple occasions. I don't know how much more loss I could take. I was sad but more than that I was pissed off.

There was a knock on my door and a moment later dad entered. I hurriedly wiped away the tear from cheek before turning around to him. He was dressed in a black suit and tie.

"How are you doing?" he asked.

"I'll be okay." I didn't know what else to say. I didn't want to breakdown in front of him and tell him how much I was hurting.

"Here, I wanted to give you this." He walked over and pulled something out of his pocket. "They found it in Daniel's jacket."

In my hand he placed a smell red jewellery box. I couldn't stop the small sob that escaped from my throat when I saw it. Nestled inside the box was the engagement ring Daniel had been so excited to give me when I returned back home. It was now just a giant reminder of everything I would never have.

"We'll be downstairs when you're ready," he said before leaving.

I sat on the end of my bed and opened the box. The ring was beautiful; white gold with one large round diamond and smaller ones surrounding it. I thought the first time I would see this ring in person was when Daniel would be slipping it onto my finger. I gently lifted the ring from the box with shaking fingers. I held it in my hands and started at it for minutes. I just couldn't bring myself to put it on my finger. It would feel wrong to wear it on my finger. It would be a slap in the face, a constant reminder of what could have been, what will never be. If I put it on my finger now, one day I would have to take it off. I just couldn't do it.

After what felt like hours but was only minutes, I rose from my bed and found a silver chain in my jewellery box. I slipped the ring onto the chain and secured it around my neck. The ring rested on the centre of my chest, right near my heart.

The drive to the cemetery was silent. No one really knew what to say. As I walked across the grass and saw Daniel's coffin for the first time, I felt my knees weaken and my step wobble slightly. Dad suddenly gripped my hand to help me balance and led me to a seat in the first row. A large flower bouquet was resting atop the coffin and a photo of Daniel had been blown up and framed. I stared at his face, his kind smile and amazing blue eyes. I couldn't believe that man was now in the coffin in front of me.

Other people starting arriving at the cemetery. Daniel's father and sister sat by me in the front row, as well as Dad, Pepper, Happy and Rhodey. Numerous doctors and nurses from his hospital showed up, as well as patients he had helped save over the years. There were not enough seats, and as more and more people arrived, it reminded me of how amazing and wonderful a man Daniel had been. How many lives he had touched. Just as the priest began the ceremony, I glanced over my shoulder and saw a row of people standing off to the side. They had all come; Natasha, Bruce, Steve, Barton, even Fury and Agent Hill. Thor was already back on Asgard with Loki, otherwise I knew he would have been standing alongside them too.

My vision was blurred with tears for all of the funeral. Daniel's father and sister stood to say a few words about him. I know I should have said something but I also knew I would not even be able to get one word out without collapsing into a puddle of tears. Not speaking at his funeral is something I might regret in years to come. But I just couldn't do it.

One by one some of Daniel's closest friends and family placed a white rose on his coffin. When it came to my turn, Dad kept a firm hand on my arm as he led me to the coffin, afraid that I would collapse. I placed a single red rose on top of the pile of white roses.

"Goodbye my love."

People soon began leaving. I knew there was a wake being held somewhere but I wouldn't go. I couldn't stand around for a few hours while people gave me their condolences.

After a while Dad and I were the only people left. Pepper and Happy were in the car waiting for us.

"It's time to go."

"You go. I need some time alone." I could see in his eyes that dad was nervous about leaving me by myself. He had been trying to watch me 24/7 for the past few days, but he realized he couldn't do that forever.

After a moment he nodded. "I'll see you at home."

I sat in the cemetery for a few hours. Before leaving, I went to visit my mother's grave. It had been a while since I had visited her. A fresh bouquet of flowers was sitting in front of her headstone so I knew dad had also visited before leaving.

I don't know if I believe in heaven or not. It would be nice to believe that Daniel is with her now. I guess that was why people believed in heaven and hell, to give them some sort of peace over something they had no control over. To believe that some part of them were still here, looking over us.

I made my way out of the cemetery and hailed down a cab. As the driver asked for a destination, I hesitated. Dad had said he'll see me at home. Right now I didn't know where home was. I had yet to go back to the home I had shared with Daniel. To be there and know he wasn't ever going to walk through the door again was too much to bear. But I had to go back sometime.

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